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LITTLE ARTHUR'S 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 






I.ITT1>E AKTIIUK'S 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



In Prejiaralinii. 
LITTLP: ARTHUR'S III8TORV OF ROiMK. 
LITTLE ARTHUR'S HISTORY OF FRANCE. 



LITTLE ARTHXJE'S 



HISTORY OF EJv^&LAND. 



BY LADYi^'ALLCOTT. 




NEW EDITION. 



WITH THIRTY-SIX ILLU 






JN ]] 



//9/^l 



NEW YORK 
THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., 

■ No. 13 AsToij Plack. 



[the library! 

[OF CONGRESS I 
IWASH1N012S, 



Copyright, 

Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. 

1884. 






TO MOTHEES. 



Though I have not the happiness to be a mother, 
my love of children has led me to think a good deal 
about them, their amiisements, and their lessons. 

This little history was written for a real little 
Arthur, and I have endeavoured to im-ite it nearly 
as I would tell it to an intelligent child. I well 
remember what I wanted to be told myself, in 
addition to what I found in my lesson-book, when 
I was first allowed to read the History of England, 
and I hope I have answered most of the questions 1 
recollect to have wislied to ask. 

I may have failed in satisfying the almost bound- 
less inquiries of intelligent children ; and I could 
wish that the mother or governess, who may put 
this little book into the hands of her pupils, would 
read each chapter herself before she gives it to a 
child, that she ma}' be ready with answers to such 
questions as the chapter may suggest. 

Perhaps I have not made my small volume 
amusing enough to answer the purpose of those 
who wish children to learn everything in \Aviy. I 
do not know that I could have done so, if I wished 
it : there are some things to be learned from the 
History of England, that are of some impoit to 
the future life of a child, and are no play : things, 
independent of the change of kings, or the fighting 



viii TO MOTHERS. 

of I)attles, or even of the pathetic tales in which 
everv true history is rich. 

These things I have tried to teach in a wa}' to 
engage the attention, and to fix them in the menioiy. 
till advancing age, and llic reading of histoiy in 
detail, shall call them into use. 

Next to the study of the Sacred Scriptures, I have 
always held the history of our own country' to Ite 
important in education, particularly in that of lioys. 

To teach the love of our country is almost a 
religious duty. In the Scriptures how often is it 
referred to ! How many beautiful passages in the 
Psalms encourage it! '"If I forget thee, O Jeru- 
salem, let m}- right hand forget her cunning." But 
above all other tender expressions is that of the 
blessed Jesus, addressed to Jerusalem and its in- 
habitants ; "How often would I have gathered thy 
children together, as a hen doth gather her brood 
under her wings, and ye would not ! " 

Let no one fear that to cultivate patriotism is to 
make men illiberal in feeling towards mankind in 
general. Is any man the worse citizen for being a 
good son, or brother, or father, or husband? 

I am indeed persuaded that the well-grounded 
love of our own country is the best security for that 
enlightened philanthropy which is aimed at as the 
perfection of moi-al education. 

This is the feeling that has guided me in writing 
'■ Little Arthur's History of England." If it 
should happily lay the foundation for patriotism in 
one single Englishman, my wishes will be answered, 
m}- best hopes fulfilled. 

M. C. 



COE'TEI^TS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Tlie aucient Britons : their houses 
— clothes — and food . Page 1 

CHAPTER II. 
Religion of the ancient Britons — 
the Druids — the misletoe — the 
Druids' songs 3 

CELVPTER III. 
How the Romans came and con- 
quered the Britous, and made 
tliem work o 

CHAPTER IV. 
How the Romans taught the Brit- 
ons many things, and liow some 
of them became Christians . 8 

CHAPTER V. 
IIow the Romans made a marlset in 
London, and used money, and 
built a wall; and how they im- 
proved Bath, and many other 
towns 10 

CHAPTER VI. 

IIow the Romans left Britain ; and 

how the Angles and Saxons came 

and conquered the country, and 

behaved cruelly to the jieople, 12 

CHAPTER Vn. 
How there were seven chief king- 
doms in England ; how Augustine 
and his friends came from Rome 
and made the people Christians ; 
and how some of the young men 
went to Rome to be taught . 1-5 

CHAPTER VIII. 
How the Angles and Saxons loved 
freedom, but made laws to pun- 
ish those who did wrong . . 21 

CHAPTER IX. 

IIow Egbert became the first king 
over all England; how the Danes 
(lid great mischief to the pcojile; 
how Alfred, after much trouble, 
drove them away ; a!id how he 
built ships and did many other 
good things 23 



CHAPTER X. 

King Edward — King Athelstane : 
how he beat the Danes in battle, 
and took some prisoners; how he 
invited his prisoners to supper, 
and afterwards let them go free 
Page 31 

CHAPTER XI. 

How King Edmund was killed by a 
robber; how Bishop Dunstan ill- 
used King Edwy; how Arch- 
bishop Odo murdered the Queen ; 
what Dunstan did to please the 
people ; how King Edgar caused 
the wolves to be destroyed; and 
how his son. King Edward, was 
murdered by Queen Elfrida . 34 

CHAPTER XII. 

Why King Ethelred was called the 
Unready ; how the Danes drove 
away the English princes, and 
made Canute king; how Canute 
rebuked his courtiers, and im- 
proved the people; and how the 
Danes and Saxons made slaves of 
their prisoners and of the jjoor, 38 

CHAPTER XIII. 

How King Edward the Confessor 
suffered his courtiers to rule him 
and the kingdom, and promised 
that the Duke of Xormandy 
should be king; how some of his 
wise men made a book of laws ; 
how Harold, the son of Earl God- 
win, was made king; how he was 
killed in the battle of Hastings, 
and the Duke of Normandy be- 
came king .42 

CHAPTER XIV. 

William I. — 1066 to 1087. 

How William the First made cruel 
and oppressive laws ; how he took 
the land from the English, and 
gave it to the Norman barons; 
and how he caused Domesday 
Book to be written .... 48 



cox TENTS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

William II. — 1087 to 1100. 

How William the Second and Rob- 
ert of Xonuandy besieged their 
brother Henry in his castle; how 
William was killed in the New 
Korcst ; and how London Bridge 
and AVestminster Hall were built 
in his reign Page .51 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Henry I. — 1100 to 11.35. 

How Henry the First married the 
English Princess Maude; how his 
son William was drowned; and 
how he desired that his daughter 
Maude should be queen after his 
own death o4 

CHAPTER X\ai. 

Stephen. — 1135 to 1154. 

How Stephen was made king; and 
of the civil wars in his reign . 56 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Henry II. — 1154 to 1189. 

How Henry the Second did many 
good things for England; how 
the gentrj' went hawking; how 
Strougbow conquered a great 
part of Ireland ; and how the 
kings of Scotland became under- 
kings to the kings of England, 58 

CHAPTER XIX. 

How the Popes wanted to be mas- 
ters in England ; how that led to 
the murder of Becket ; how Queen 
Eleanor made her sons rebel 
against their father ; why Henry 
the Second was called Plantage- 
net 63 

CHAPTER XX. 

Richard I. —1189 to 1199. 

How Richard the first went to fight 
in foreign countries, and the evil 
things that happened in his ab- 
sence; how the Jews were ill- 
treated ; how King Richard was 
taken prisoner ; how he was dis- 
covered and set at liberty ; and 
how he was killed in battle . 67 



(IHAI'TER XXI. 

John. — 1199 to 1216. 

Why King John was called Lack- 
land ; how he killed his nephew- 
Arthur; and how the barons re- 
belled against him, and made him 
sign the Great Charter . Page 73 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Henry III. — 1216 to 1272. 

Why taxes are paid ; liow Henry 
the Third robbed the people'; 
how Simon de Montfort fought 
against King Henry, and made 
him agree not to tax the people 
without the consent of the Par- 
liament VS 



CHAPTER XXIU. 

Edward L — 1272 to 1307. 

How Edward the First learnt many 
good things abroad, and did manj' 
more to make the people happy; 
how he caused the burgesses to 
come to parliament ; how lie made 
good laws; why he was called 
Longshanks 81 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Edward I. — continued. 

How King Edward went to war 
with the Welsh ; how Prince Lle- 
wellyn and his brother David 
were put to death for defending 
their country ; how he made war 
upon Scotland, and put Sir Wil- 
liam Wallace to death ; and how 
ambition was the cause of his 
cruelty 84 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Edward n. — 1307 to 1327. 

Why Edward the Second was called 
Prince of Wales ; how his idle- 
ness and evil companions caused 
a civil war ; how lie was beaten 
by Robert Bruce at Bannock- 
burn; how the Queen fought 
against the King and took him 
prisoner; and how her favourite, 
Mortimer, had King Edward 
murdered 89 



i 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
Edwakd m. — 1327 to 1377. 
How Qiieeu Isabella was jjut in 
prison, and her favourite hanged ; 
how Queen Philippa did much 
good for the people; and how 
Edward the Third went to war 
to conquer France . . Page 92 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Edward 111. — continued. 
How the English gained a sea-fight; 
how King Edward and his son, 
the Black Prince, won the hattle 
of Crecy; how Calais was taiken, 
and how Queen Philippa saved 
the lives of six of the citizens- 
how the Black Prince won the 
battle of Poitiers, and took the 
King of France prisoner, and 
brought him to London . . 95 

CHAPTER XXVin. 
Richard II. — 1377 to 1399. 
How Richard the Second sent men 
round the country to gather the 
taxes; how Wat Tyler killed one 
of them, and collected an army 
how he met the King in Smith- 
held, and was killed by the 
Mayor ; how King Richard be- 
haved cruelly to his uncles; how 
he was forced to give up the 
crown to his cousin Henry of 
Hereford, and died at Pom- 
fret 101 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Henry TV. —1399 to 1413. 
How Henry the Fourth had a dis- 
pute with Earl Percy and his son 
Hotspur about their Scotch pris- 
oners; how the Percys went to 
w.ar with the King, and were 
jomed by Owen Glendower; how 
riotspur was killed in the battle 
of Shrewsbury; why some men 
are made nobles, and how they 
are useful to their country; how 
Kmg Henry punished people on 
account of their religion . . 108 

CHAPTER XXX. 
IlENRT V. — 1413 to 1422. 
How Henry the Fifth was very gay 
and thoughtless when he was 
Prince of Wales, but became a 
great and wise king; how he 
went to war with France, and 
Kained the battle of Agincourf 
and how the people lamented at 
his death 1^2 



CHAPTER XXXI. 
Henry VI. — 1422 to 1461. 
Hov/ Henry the Sixth became king 
while he was an infant ; how the 
Duke of Bedford governed in 
France; how Joan of Arc per- 
suaded the Dauphin and the 
French soldiers to take courage ; 
how they nearly drove the Eng- 
lish out of France; how Joan 
was taken prisoner, and put to 
death Page 116 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
Henry VI. — continued. 
How Queen Margaret and Cardinal 
Beaufort are said to have caused 
Duke Humphrey to be murdered • 
how the wars of the ^Vhite and 
the Red Roses were brought 
about; how Edward of York 
was chosen king by the Lon- 
doners JJy 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Edward IV. of York. 

1461 to 1483. 
How the Yorkists beat Queen Mar- 
garet at Hexham ; how the Queen 
and Prince escaped to Flanders ■ 
why the Earl of Warwick was 
called the King-maker; how 
Prince Edward was murdered 
by King Edward's brothers; how 
King Henry and the Duke of 
Clarence were put to death . 122 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Edward V. 

Only ten weeks of 1483. 

How Richard Duke of Gloucester 

was guardian to the young King 

Edward the Fifth; how he put 

Lord Hastings to death, and made 

himself King; and how the little 

King Edward and his brother 

were murdered in the Tower, 127 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
Richard III. — 1483 to 1485. 
How Richard the Third tried to 
make the people his friends; how 
the Duke of Buckingham rebelled 
and was put to deafh ; how Rich- 
ard was killed at Bosworth, fight- 
ing against the Earl of Richmond, 
who was made King . . . 130 



Xll 



CONTENTS. 



CILiPTEH XXXVI. 

Henry VII. — I4S5 to 1.509. 

How Jteiirv tlu' Scvfiitli uiiiti-tl the 
Parties of tlie Wliite aiul tlif Uuil 
Kosfs; liow LuiiiIhtI Siinnol, and 
ut'terwurds Pi'i'liin Warbeck, re- 
belled againut him, but were sulj- 
dued; liow the people began to 
improve themselveH in learning; 
Low .Vmerica was discovered; 
bow King Henry did many use- 
ful things, but was not beloved 
by the people . . . Page 133 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Henry VIII. — 1509 to 1547. 

How Henry the Eighth made war 
upon .Scotland and France, and 
gained the battle of Flodden and 
the battle of the S>purs; how he 
mot tlie King of Prance in the 
Field of the ( 'loth of Gold ; how 
Cardinal Wolsey foil into dis- 
grace and died 138 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Henry \lU. — contUmed. 

How King Henry married six 
times; and how he got rid of his 
wives when he was tired of 
them 142 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Henry Vlll.— continued. 

Row the Pope and the friars im- 
posed upon the people; how dis- 
putes arose in England about re- 
ligion; liow King Henry seized 
the convents and turned out the 
monks and nuns; bow he called 
himself Supreme Head of the 
Church, and put many people to 
death who did not agree with 
him in all things 147 



CHAPTER XE. 

How Sir Thomas More studied law 
and became an orator; the wise 
and good men who visited him ; 
how he was for some time in the 
King's favor, but was afterwards 
imprisoned and put to death, be- 
cause he would not do everything 
the King wished . . . . " . 153 



CHAPTER XLI. 
Edward VI. — 1.J47 to 1553. 

How Edward the Sixth was taught 
to be a Protestant; how the J'ro- 
tector Somerset went to war in 
Scotland; bow lie caused his 
brother to be beheaded, and was 
afterwards beheaded himself; 
how the Duke of Xorthumbei- 
land persuaded the iving to leave 
the kingdom to Lady .lane Urey, 
Page 157 
CHAPTER XLII. 

TuE Story of Lady Jane Grey. 

How Lady Jane Grey was called 
Queen for ten days, and was 
afterwards imprisoned; how she 
was fond of learning; bow she 
was persuaded to become Queen 
against her will ; and liow she 
and her husband were put to 
death by Queen Mary . . . 103 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

Mary.— 1553 to 155S. 
How Sir Thomas ^Vyat rebelled 
against (^ueen Mary, but was 
overcome, and he and many others 
were put to death ; how she of- 
fended the peojile by marrying 
the King of Spain; and how a 
great many people wei'e burnt for 
being Protestants 167 

CHAPTER XLIV. 
Elizabeth. — 1558 to 1603. 
How Queen Elizabeth allowed the 
peojile to be Protestants; how 
they learned many useful things 
from foreigners who had been 
persecuted in their own country ; 
how Mary Queen of Scots was 
driven from her kingdom, and 
was imijrisoned, and at last be- 
headed, by Elizabeth . . .171 

CHAPTER XLV. 
Elizabeth. — contUmtd. 
How Queen Elizabeth refused to 
marry ; how the ships and the 
sailors were improved in her 
reign ; how some great iidmirals 
made many -soyages and discov- 
eries; how the King of Spain 
sent a great fleet and army to 
conquer England, but could not 
succeed ; and how the English did 
much harm to Spain . . . 177 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

Elizabeth. — coiitinued. 

llow Ireland was in an evil condi- 
tion from the conqnest ; liow Eliz- 
abeth tried to improve it by send- 
ing it wise governors ; how the 
Earl of Desmond's and tlie Earl 
of Tyrone's rebellions were sub- 
dued; how the Earl of Essex be- 
haved ill, and was put to death ; 
and how Sir Philip Sidney was 
killed in battle . . . Page 185 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

James I. — 1603 to 1625. 

How the King of Scotland became 
King of England also ; how he 
and the Queen behaved very un- 
wisety; how he ill-treated the 
Papists and the Puritans; how 
the Papists intended to destroy 
the King and the Parliament, but 
were prevented; how Prince 
Charles and the Duke of Buck- 
ingham visited France and Spain ; 
how King James did many fool- 
ish things, and left bis subjects 
discontented 189 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

Charles I.— 1625 to 1649. 

How Charles the First was gov- 
erned by ill advisers ; how he 
made the people pay taxes with- 
out the consent of Parliament; 
how the Earl of Strafford be- 
haved very cruelly, and was 
beheaded; and how the King's 
evil government caused a Civil 
War 196 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

Charles I. — continued. 

How, after many battles had been 
fought. King Charles went to 
Scotland ; how the Scots sold him 
to the English Parliament ; how 
the army got the King into their 
power, and appointed judges to 
try him, who condemned him to 
death ; bow, after a sad parting 
from two of his children, he was 
beheaded 202 



CHAPTER L. 
The Commonwealth. 
1649 to 1600. 
How the Scotch chose Prince 
Charles to be their King; how 
Oliver Cromwell cxuitted Ireland ; 
how the Scotch put the Marquis 
of Montrose to death ; how Prince 
Charles's army was beaten by 
Cromwell at Worcester; how the 
Prince escaped to France aftei' 
many dangers; how the English 
weut to war with the Dutch, and 
beat them; how Cromwell turned 
out the Parliament, and was made 
Protector: and how he governed 
wisely till his death . Page 208 

CHAPTER LI. 
Charles II. — 1660 to 1685. 
How Richard Cromwell was Pro- 
tector for a short time ; how the 
people chose to have a king again ; 
how General Monk brought home 
Charles the Second ; how there 
was again a war with the Dutch ; 
bow the great Plague was stopped 
by the great Fire ; how the King 
chose evil counsellors; how the 
Scotch and Irish were treated 
with great cruelty; how the King 
caused Lord Russell and many 
more to be put to death . . 214 

CHAPTER LII. 
James II. — 16S5 to 1688. 
How the Duke of Monmouth re- 
belled against James the Second, 
and was beheaded; how Colonel 
Kirke and Judge Jefi'ries com- 
mitted great cruelties; how the 
people wished to get rid of James 
on account of his tyranny; how 
the Prince of Orange came over 
to England, and was made King; 
and how James escaped to 
France 223 

CHAPTER LHI. 
William III. —Mart II. 
1688 to 1702. 
How there were ti'oubles in Scot- 
land and in Ireland ; how William 
the Third won the battle of the 
Boyne; how he fought against 
the French, till they were glad 
to make peace; how Queen ^lary 
was regretted at her death ; how 
the East India Company was 
established; and how King Wil- 
liam did many good things for 
England 226 



CONTENTS. 



OHAi'TKr; i,i\'. 

QuEKN Anne. — 17i)2 to 1714. 
How Princess Anne became Queen 
because she was a Protestant; 
how the nnion of (^cothind with 
England was brouglit about; how 
the Dulve of Marlborougli gained 
the battle of Blenheim ; how 
Admiral Uooiie took (Gibraltar; 
how the Queen was governed by 
her ladies Page 232 

CHAPTER LV. 
George I. — 171-t to 1727. 
How the Elector of Hanover be- 
came George the First of Eng- 
land; how the Pretender tried 
to make himself King, but was 
defeated ; how Lady Nithis- 
dale saved her husband's life: 
and how the Spaniards were 
beaten at sea 237 

CHAPTER LVI. 
Geok&e n. — 1727 to 1760. 
How George the Second went to 
war with Spain, and with the 
French and Bavarians; 'how the 
French were beaten by Lord 
Clive in India, and by General 
Wolfe in America; how the 
young Pretender landed in Scot- 
land, and proclaimed his father 
King; liow he was beaten, and 
after many dangers escaped to 
Italy . . . . ^ 240 

CHAPTER LVII. 
George III. — 1760 to 1820. 
How George the Third, after mak- 
ing a general peace, went to war 
with the Americans; how Gen- 
eral Washington beat the Eng- 
lish armies, and procured peace ; 
why the King went to war with 
France : how Xapoleon Buona- 
parte conquered many countries ; 
how our admirals and generals 
won many battles ; and how there 
were many useful things foundout 
in George the Third's reign, 246 



CHAPTER LVIII. 

George I\'. — 1S20 to 18:jn. 

How it was this King ruled the 
kingdom before his father died ; 
how some bad men planned to 
kill the King's ministers; how 
the Princess Charlotte died; how 
the Turkish fleet was destroyed 
at Navarino : how the Roman 
Catholics were admitted into I'ar- 
liament; and v.'hat useful things 
were done in this reign, Page 252 



CHAP'J'ER LIX. 

William IV.— 1830 to 1837. 

How the Reform Bill was jjassed : 
how slavery in our colonies was 
abolished ; liow there were revo- 
lutions in France and Belgium : 
how the cholera broke out: how 
railways were established ; and 
how the Houses of Parliament 
were burned down .... 255 



CHAPTER LX. 

Queen Victoria. — 1837. 

How Hanover was separated from 
England ; how the Queen married 
her cousin. Prince Albert; how a 
fresh revolution broke out in 
Paris, and how Louis Philippe 
escaped to England; how the 
Chartists held meetings; how we 
went to war with Russia; how 
the Sepoys mutinied in India; 
how the young men in Great Bri- 
tain became volunteers; how 
Parliament was reformed the 
second time, and means taken to 
educate the people; how there 
were a great many discoveries 
and improvements made . . 259 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Tower of Londox Frontispifcc 

Gregory and Angles Page 17 

King Ethelbert declares himself a Christian . 19 

Alfred learning to read 25 

Alfred in Neatherd's Cottage 27 

King Alfred building his Navy 30 

King Edward stabbed by' Order of Elfrida . . 37 

William rallies the Normans at Hastings ... 46 

Battle of Hastings 47 

Dermot, King of Leinster, doing Homage to 

Henry II 61 

King Eichard I. made Prisoner by the Duke of 

Austria 71 

Prince Arthur and Hubert 74 

King John granting Magna Charta 77 

Death of Llewellyn, last of the Welsh Princes, 86 
Edward the Black Prince avaiting on John, King 

OF France 100 

Death of Wat Tyler 103 

Henry of Hereford claiming the Crown of Eng- 
land 106 

Escape of Queen Margaret 123 

Death ok the Little Princes in the Tower . 12!) 

Marriage of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York, 134 

Henry VIII. embarkin<; for France 140 

WOLSEY ENTERING LEICESTER AbBEY 143 



XVI LIST or ILLVSTRATIONH. 

PAGE 
The rKOTECTOK yO.MERSKT ACCUSIXri HIS BUOTHEH 

BEFORE KlN<( ElJVVAUI) VI 160 

Lady Jane Grey itEFUSiNo the Crown 165 

The Spanish Armada 182 

Queen Elizabeth revik\vin<; hkh Army at Tilhury, 183 

King James I. avith Steenie and Baby Charles . 193 

Strafford going to Execution 200 

Parting of King Charles and his Children . . 206 

King Charles I. on the Scaffold 207 

Cromwell turns out the Parliament 213 

King Charles II. enters London at his Kestoration, 217 

Marlborough at Blenheiji 235 

The Pretender at Holyrood House 244 

Parmhouse of IIougoumont on the Field of 

Waterloo 250 

The Marriage of Queen Victoria 261 



LITTLE ARTHUR'S 

History of Ei^g-laj^d. 

CHAPTER I. 

The ancient Britons : their houses — clothes — and food. 

TOU know, my dear little Arthur, that the coun- 
try you live in is called England. It is 
joined to another countr}' called Scotland, and the 
two together are called Great Britain. 

Now, a very long time ago, Britain was so full of 
trees, that there was very little room for houses, 
and still less for coi'nfields, and there were no gar- 
dens. 

The houses were made of wicker-work ; that is, 
of sticks put together like baskets, and plastered 
over with mud, to keep out the wind and rain ; and 
the people, who were called Britons, used to build a 
good many together, and make a fence round them, 
to keep the bears, and the wolves, and the foxes, 
which lived in their woods, from coming in the 
night to steal their sheep, or perhaps to kill their 
children, while they were asleep. 

These fences were made of great piles of wood 
and trunks of trees, laid one upon another till they 
were as high as a wall ; for at that time the Britons 



2 llOrsES— BOATS— CLOTHES. CH.VP. I. 

(lid iiol know liow to build walls of stone or bricks 
with mortar. 

Several houses, with a fence rouud them, made 
a town ; and the l>rltons had their towns either in 
the middle of the woods, where they could hardly be 
found out, or else on the tops of high hills, from 
which they could see everj'thiug and everybody that 
was coming near them. 

I do not think the insides of their houses could 
have been very comfortable. They had possibly 
wooden stools to sit on, and wooden benches for bed- 
steads, and their beds were made of skins of wild 
beasts, spread over di'y grass and leaves. In some 
places they used the pretty heath that grows upon 
the commons for beds, and, in others, nothing but 
dry leaves spread upon the ground. They had great 
wooden bowls to hold their meat, and wooden cups 
to drink out of; and in some parts of the country 
they had coarse earthern bowls and pitchers, some 
of which you may now see in museums. 

They had very few tools to make the things they 
wanted ; and yet, by taking great pains, they made 
them ver}- neatly. Their boats were very curious ; 
they^ were nicely made, of basket-work covered over 
with leather ; the}'' were called coracles. 

You may think that, as the Britons had such poor 
houses and beds, they were not much better off for 
clothes. 

In the winter they used to wrap themselves up in 
the skins of the beasts they could shoot with their 
bows and arrows. In the summer they were naked, 
and instead of clothes they put paint upon their 
bodies. They were very fond of a fine blue color, 
made out of a [)lant, called Woad, which they found 
in their woods. They squeezed out the juice of the 



C^HAP. ir. FOOD — KELIGIOY. 3 

AVoacl, uud then stained themselves all over with it, 
so that in summer they looked as if the}' were 
dressed in tight blue clothes. 

The}' were as ill off for eating as for clothes. 
Only a few of the very richest Britons could get 
bread ; the rest of the people ate acorns and berries, 
which they found in the woods, instead of bread. 
They had beef, mutton, and deer, and hares, and 
wild birds. They drank milk, and knew how to 
make cheese ; but most of them were forced to spend 
a good deal of time in hunting for wild animals in 
the woods, and often Avent without their dinners 
when the}' could not get near enough to a beast or 
bird to shoot it with their arrows. 

In time, however, the Britons in the south learned 
how to grow corn, to work in metal, and other use- 
ful things. They traded with the nearest part of 
Europe, which is now called France, but was then 
named Gaul. They were very brave in war, and 
fought from chariots, with blades like scythes stick- 
ing; out to cut down their enemies. 



chaptp:r II. 

Religion of the ancient Bi-itons — tlie Druids — the misletoe — 
the Druids' sougs. 

I AM sorry to say that the old Britons had no 
churches ; and they did not know anything 
about the true God. Their oldest and cleverest men 
only thought God must be somewhere, and because 
they saw that oaks were the largest, and oldest, and 
best trees in the woods, they told the people that 
God must be where the oaks grew ; but they were 



4 DRVIDS—TIIE MISLETOE. Chap. II. 

mistaken, yon know, for God is in heaven, and He 
made the oaks, and everything else that yon can see, 
and ever\-thing tliat you can think of. But as these 
poor people did not know any hetter. they chose 
some of the oldest and wisest men to be theh" 
priests, and to sa}' pra3'ers for them, under the 
shade of the oaks. These priests they call Druid:>. 
They had long white beards, and wore better clothes 
than the other people, for they had white linen 
robes. They kncAv how to cure sick people, by 
giving them different parts of the plants that grew 
in the woods ; and if they were ])urut, or cut, they 
made salves to heal them ; and they would not 
teach the common people how to use these things 
of themselves, so everybody was obliged to go to 
them for help. And the people gave the Druids a 
part of what they had, whether it was corn, or 
warm skins to make beds of, or paint, or tin, or 
copper, or silver, that they found among the moun- 
tains, for curing them. 

One of the things they used to cure the sick 
people with, was a plant called misletoe. It does 
not grow on the ground, but on the branches of 
trees ; sometimes, but rarely, on the oak. The 
Druids knew the time of year when its berries were 
ripe, and made a great feast, and all the people 
came to it ; and the oldest Druid, dressed in white, 
and with a white baud round his head, used to take 
a golden sickle, and go up into the trees where the 
misletoe grew, and cut it while the others sang 
songs, and said some praj^ers to their false gods, 
because they did not know the true God. 

These Druids used to advise the kings what to do, 
and what rules to give the people ; and because no- 
bod}' in England could write, the Druids made songs 



Chap. III. ROMAN INVASION. •'> 

aud verses about everything that happened, and 
taught them to the young people, that they might 
teach them again to their children. Those who 
made these songs were called Bards. 

Now you know that, though it is a very good 
thing to he able to repeat faie verses about things 
that happened long ago, it is much better to have 
them written down ; because people might forget 
some of the verses, and then their children would 
not know what had happened in their country before 
they lived themselves. 

And so it was with the Druids. People began to 
forget the oldest verses, when something happened 
tliat I will tell you about in the next chapter, by 
means of which the Britons learned not only to 
write and read, but to know the true God. 



CHAPTER III. 

How the Romans came aud conquered the Britons, and made 
them work. 

THERE is a city called Rome, a good way from 
England, and the people belonging to it are 
called Romans. 

Now, at the time I told you of, when the poor 
Britons were so ill off for almost everything, the 
Romans were the cleverest and bravest people in 
the world. By their bravery they had conquci-ed 
all the countries between Rome and England, whicli 
3'ou know was then called Britain ; and by being- 
able to write better than any other people at that 
time, they made books, in which {hey set down 



G .lULIUS C^SAR. CHA1-. III. 

everything thut happened to them and to the people, 
they conquered. 

One of their bravest and cleverest men, called 
luLiL's C.KSAK, wrote wliat I have told you ahout 
Britain, and some more tliat I am going to tell you. 
When the Romans had found out that there was 
such a eonntr\' as Britain, some sailors and mer- 
chants came here to see what the country and the 
people were lilce. 

And they saw that the people were very strong 
and well made, and found that they were clever, and 
good tempered, and they wished to have some of 
them for servants, and some for soldiers. And they 
saw too that the country was verj- pretty, and that 
if an3'bodv who knew how to build nice houses, and 
to make proper fields, were to live here, it would be 
a very pleasant place indeed. 

Besides all this, they found that some of the best 
tin and copper in the world was found in one part of 
England, and sometimes the people found gold and 
silver too. Then they saw among the shells by the 
sea-side, and in some of the rivers, some of those 
beautiful round white things called pearls, which 
ladies have always been fond of stringing and mak- 
ing necklaces of. 

So when thev went to Rome, they told everybod}' 
of all the good things they had seen in Britain ; and 
the great men in Rome determined to go and con- 
quer the whole country, that they might make ser- 
vants of the people, and take their land, and make 
corn-fields for themselves, and get all the tin, and 
copper, and silver, and gold, and pearls, and take 
them to Rome. 

The Ronqans had sent some very brave soldiers, 
with their great captain, the same Julius Caesar who 



Chap. III. ROMANS CONQUER BRITAIN. 7 

Avrote down these things, to conquer Gaul ; and 
they ci'ossed the sea in order to conquer Britain ; 
but tliey did not find it so easy to do as tliey had 
hoped it would he. Although the poor Britons were 
almost naked, and had very bad swords, and very 
weak spears and bows and arrows, and small 
shields, made of basket work covered with leather, 
they were so brave, that they fought a great many 
battles against the Romans, who had everything 
they could want to figlit with, before they would 
giA'^e up an}' part of their country to them. 

At last, when the Romans had gotten a part of 
Britain, they were obliged to build very strong walls 
all about their houses. And their houses and walls 
were made of good stone and bi-ick, instead of the 
trunks and branches of trees such as the Britons 
used. And the Roman soldiers were obliged to 
keep watch alwaj^s, because the Britons were tr3'ing 
every day to drive them away ; and they kept good 
swords and spears, and great shields, covered with 
plates of iron ; and the}" put pieces of iron on their 
backs and their breasts, and their arms and legs, 
and called it armour, so the bad swords of the 
Britons could hardly ever hurt a Roman ; but their 
bows and arrows, which they managed very well, 
killed a good many. 

However, the Romans remained masters at last, 
and they made the Britons cut down many of their 
woods, and turn the ground into corn-fields and 
gardens for them ; and they forced them to dig the 
tin and copper out of the earth for them, and to fish 
in the seas and rivers, to find pearls for the Roman 
ladies ; and the poor Britons were very unhappy, 
because they liad lost their freedom, and could never 
do as they liked. 



M fi(jMAiYS INSTRUCT TIIK liHITOXS. Chap. TV. 

But I must end this loiio- fhaptor. lu the next I 
will ti'll you how (lod tni'ued the uuluippiuess of the 
poor liritous into everything good for them. 



CHAPTER IV. 

How the Romans taught the Britons mauy things, and how some 
of them became (Jliristians. 

YOU remember, I hope, what you read in the 
first chapter, al^out the uncomfortable houses 
of the Britons, how badly they were dressed, and 
how often they were obhged to be huugr}- when the}' 
could not catch the birds or beasts in the woods. 

Now when God allowed the Romans to come and 
take part of the country- of the Britons, and to 
make servants of the people. He put it into the 
hearts of the Romans to teach the Britons most of 
the things they knew themselves ; and the Romans 
who came to Britain wrote books, from which we 
learn the way in which these things were done. 

By employing the Britons to help them to build 
their houses and walls, of stone or brick, they taught 
them how to make good ones for themselves ; then 
b}' making them learn to spin and weave the wool 
that grew upon their sheep, they gave them means 
to make better clothes, both for winter and summer, 
than the}' had thought of before ; and the}' left oft" 
staining their skins with the juice of plants, and 
Ijegan to wash themselves, and to keep their hair 
neat, and even to [)ut on ornaments like the Romans. 

Wheu they saw how the Romans ploughed the 
fields, and made corn enough grow to make bread 
for everybody, as well as for the rich people, they 



Chap. IV. INTRODUCTION OF GHRLSTIANITY. 9 

began to do the same ; and they began to like to 
liave gardens for cabbages and onions, and apples 
and roses, all four of which the Romans taught them 
to plant, besides some other useful things which I 
liave forgotten. 

But, what was much better than all the rest, the 
Romans built some schools, and had school-masters 
to teach their children to read and write, and the 
little Britons were allowed to go to these schools as 
well as the little Romans ; and, as the Britons were 
very clever, you may think how soon they learned 
to read and write, and how glad theii fathers and 
mothers were to see them so improved. 

Yon see, therefore, that when God allowed the 
Romans to conquer the Britons, He made them the 
means of teaching them a great many useful thiugs ; 
above all, how to read. 

Many ^-ears after the Romans first took the 
country for themselves, there came some A^ery good 
men, who brought the Bible with them, and began 
to teach both the Romans and the Britons, who 
could read, all about the true God, and how they 
ought to serve Him and love Him. Aud the}- told 
them to love one another, instead of fighting. And 
by degrees, they made the Britons forget the Druids, 
and leave off praying under the oaks-. And the}" 
l)uilt several churches, and a great many Britons 
became Christians, and learned to thank God for 
sending the Romans to their country to teach them 
to be wiser and better aud happier than they were 
before. 

You may suppose that all these tilings took a good 
deal of time to do : indeed, they took a great many 
years, and in that time there were many different 
Roman governors. And when von are a little older. 



10 1,'OMAXS IMPnoVK LOXDOX, Chap. V. 

and know more about Eno-Uuul. you will read soine- 
tliiuii; about thom in the large History ol' Kngland. 
antl in sonu' other liooks. 



CHAPTER V. 

How the Romans made a market iu London, and used money, 
and built a wall ; and how they improved Bath, and many 
other towns. 

I TOLD you what poor and small places the 
British towns were, before the Romans came 
here. They soon taught the Britons to make them 
better. London was one of their towns ; it was so 
hid among trees that it could hardly be seen ; but the 
Roraaus soon cut down a good man}- of the trees 
round it, and built large houses there to live in. 
And they made a market, which 3'ou know is a place 
where people go to sell what they do not want them- 
selves, and to buy other things. At first they onh' 
changed one thing for another; I mean, that if one 
man wanted a pair of shoes, he went to the shoe- 
maker, and said, Give me a pair of shoes and I will 
give you a shirt, or some chickens, or something that 
I have and do not want myself, if you will give me 
the shoes. But this was troublesome, because people 
could not easily carry enough things about to make 
exchanges with. So, when the Romans came, the}' 
began to use moue}' to buy the things they wanted, 
and the money was made of the silver and copper 
found in England. 

Well, besides the good houses and the market 
the Romans made in London, they l)uilt a good wall 
round it, made of stone and brick mixed, and a 
tower. Now a tower is a very high and strong 
building; and it was used long ago to put money 



Chap. V. BATH, AND YORK. 11 

and other things into to keep them safe. And if 
an}'^ enemies came to fight tlie people of the country, 
the}' used to put the women and children into their 
towers, while the strong men went to fight their 
enemies and drive them away. Towers have not 
these uses now-a-days, when by God's blessing we 
enjoy peace and safety in our open houses and the 
police protect us from thieves ; while towers and 
castles fall into ruin and are looked at as curiosities. 
Another sort of tower, you know, is built by the 
side, or at the end, of a church, to hang the bells in, 
that people may know it is time to go to prayers, 
when they hear the bells ring. 

Though the Romans took so much pains with 
London, they did not forget the other towns of the 
Britons, but made them all much better. I will tell 
you the names of some they did most good to. 
First there was Bath, where the Britons showed 
them some springs of warm water, which were used 
to cure sick people. Drinking the water was good 
for some, and bathing in it for others. Now, Bath 
was a ver}' pretty place, and the Romans made it 
prettier, by building beautiful houses to bathe in, 
and making fine gardens to their own houses ; aud 
mau}^ of the great men, and some Roman ladies, 
loved to live there. And the Britons followed their 
example, and began to have fine houses, and to 
plant beautiful gardens, and some of them went 
to Rome to learn more than they could learn in 
Britain ; and, when they came back, they taught 
others what they had learned. 

Then there w^as York, the largest town next to 
London, of those that the Romans took the troul)le 
to make much Ix'tter than the old P)ritons had done. 

Besides houses, and towers, and walls, the Romans 



12 SAXON IKVASIOK. Chap. VI. 

l)iiilt some good schools in York, and I liiive even 
heard that there was a librart/ in York, in the time 
of the Romans ; bnt I am not quite sure of this. 

liut I should never finish my chapter, and 3'ou 
Avould be very tired, if I were to try to tell you every 
one of the names of the British towns that the 
Romans improved ; in all, I dare say, they are more 
than a hundred. 

They also made good roads throughout the country, 
some of which remain in use to this dav. 



CHAPTER VI. 

How the Romans left Britain : and how the Angles and Saxons 
came and conqnered the conuti-y. and beliaved crnelly to the 
people. 

EVERYTHING seemed to be going on well Avith 
the Britons and Romans, when a great mis- 
fortune happened, which I must tell you about. 

Most of the great men in Rome had grown very 
idle and careless, because they had become so rich 
and strong that they could do what they pleased, 
and make everybody' else obe}' them. And they let 
the soldiers in Rome be quite idle, instead of keep- 
ing them busy about useful things. So the}- forgot 
how to fight properly, and when a great many 
enemies came to fight against Rome, the soldiers 
there could not drive them awaj', and they sent, in 
a hurry, to Britain, for all the good Roman soldiers 
that were there, as well as the strongest and best 
Britons, to go and defend them ; so Britain was 
left without enough men to tal\:e care of the towns, 
and the old men, and the women, and the cliildren. 

It happened that very soon after the best Britons 
had gone away to Rome, a number of people, called 



Chap.YI. HE^'GISr Axn horha—the axgleh. 13 

Angles and Saxons, came in ships to Britain, and 
landed. Yon will remember the Angles, because 
these were the people who changed the name of 
half of Britain into Englaland, which we now call 
P^ngland. 

At first they took all the gold and silver and 
clothes and food they could find, and even some of 
the little children to make servants of, and carried 
them off in their ships to their own country. 

Afterwards the Britons sent to ask their help 
against some tierce enemies, called the Picts and 
Scots, who had invaded South Britain from the 
northern part, which we now call Scotland. So two 
brothers came over first, who were called Hengist 
and HoKSA ; Horsa was slain in battle at Aylesford 
in Kent, but Hengist made himself king over a part 
of Britain. 

And when the other Saxons and Angles saw what 
good and useful things were to be had in Britain, 
they determined to go there too. Some of them said 
thej^ would only rob the Britons, and some said they 
would try to conquer the whole country, and take it 
for their own ; and so, after a great deal of fighting, 
the}^ did. But although a great many of the bravest 
Britons had been taken to Rome, some of the others 
joined together, to try and defend their country. 

One of the first of them was King Arthur, who 
was one of the bravest men in the world, and he 
had some friends who were called his knights. The^' 
helped him to fight the Saxons, but the Saxons were 
too strong for them ; so after fighting a long time. 
King Arthur was obliged to give up a good deal of 
his land to them. " Yet he beat them at last in a 
great battle, and was able to keep the rest of his 
kingdom from them for many years. You Avill read 



14 CRUELTY OF ANGLES AND ,S AXONS. Cnw. VI. 

uuinv pretty stories about King Ai'thui- mid his 
kiiiiihts, when j'ou are older. 

I liave heard that they were all so good and so 
brave that nobod^' conkl tell who was the best, and 
the king himself did not know Avhieli to like best, 
so he had a large ronnd table made, that they might 
all sit at it and be equal ; because you know that 
at a round table the places are all alike, but at a 
long table one place may seem better than another. 
But I cannot tell you more about the knights now, 
for WL' must think about the Angles and Saxons. 

By little and little, the Saxons and Angles drove 
the natives out of almost all Britain. The greatest 
number of those who remained went into that part 
called Wales, where there were high mountains and 
thick woods, where they could hide themselves. 
You Avill read in some books that some went with 
King Arthur to a part of France, which was called 
Brittany because Britons were living there already. 
But we cannot be sure of this. 

Now the Angles and Saxons were fierce and cruel, 
for the}'^ had not yet learned anj^thing about the 
true God ; but instead of loving and serA'iug Him, 
they made a great man}' figures of stone and wood, 
in the shape of men and women, and called them 
by different names, such as Woden, and Thor, and 
fancied they could help them and bless them, if they 
prayed to them ; but ^'ou know this was both 
foolish and wicked. It was foolish, because stones 
and wood cannot hear or understand ; and wicked, 
because we ought to pray to the true God only. 

The Britons, who had all become Christians before 
the Angles and Saxons came to Britain, were ver^' 
ill treated by their new masters, because they would 
not leave off lovmg and serving the true God. 



Ch. VII. COXVIJh'.slOX OF ANGLES . IND SAXONS. 1 O 

Tlieii" churches were pulled down, and the clergy- 
men either killed or driven away. And the people 
of England (as Britain now began to be called) 
were almost in as bad a state as before the Romans 
came ; for although the Angles and Saxons were 
glad enough to make them build houses, and plough 
the corn-fields, and take care of slieep for them, they 
would not let them read — they spoilt their schools, 
and burnt the books, besides pulling down the 
churches, as I told you before. 

At length, however, these bad times ended, and the 
conquerors themselves left off being cruel, and did 
more good to the country than ever the Romans did, 
as I will tell you in another chapter. 



CHAPTER VII. 

How thei-e were seven chief kiugdoms in England ; how Augus- 
tine and his friends came from Rome and made the peojjle 
Christians ; and how some of the young men went to Rome to 
he taught. 

I TOLD you, in the last chapter, that Heugist 
made himself khig over part of Britain. His 
kingdom was Kent. 

Soon afterwards other brave captains of the Angles 
and Saxons made themselves kings. So there were 
seven chief kingdoms in England, besides many 
petty kings. As soon as they were settled, -they 
and their people l>egan to like the houses and gar- 
dens and bathing places the Romans had left in the 
country, though they destroyed the most of them. 
But there were ft'w, if any, of the Christian clergy- 
men left among them, to teach them to know the 



K; Ar<in<TIXK and KrilKUtEHT. Chap. VII. 

true (iod. The Angles uud Siixons lived u.s heiithens 
in their new country for more than a hundred years. 
And now I will tell you how Clod gave them the 
word of life, and turned them from their false gods 
to the faith of Jesus Christ. 

Soon after the Anglian and Saxon kings had 
settled themselves quietly' in Britain, a good man}- 
boys were taken from Britain to be made servants 
at Rome. Most of these were Angles, and it hap- 
pened that as they were standing together an Abbot 
named Gregorv saw them, and he thought they 
were very beautiful, and asked where the}' came 
from and who they were. He was told the}'^ were 
Angles from Britain, but that they were not Chris- 
tians. He was sorry for this, and said if they were 
Christians they would be Angels, not Angles. 

Now Gregory did not go away and forget this ; 
but, when he was made Bishop of Rome, he sent for 
a good man named Augustine, and asked him if 
he would go to Britain and teach these people 
to be Christians ; and Augustine said he would, 
and he chose some other good men to help him to 
teach them. 

When Augustine and his friends got to England, 
they went to Ethelbert, the king of the part they 
reached first, and asked leave to teach the people ; 
and the king gave them leave, and gave them a church 
iu the town of Canterbur}^, and learned a great deal 
from them himself. But some of the other kings did 
not like to be Christians, nor to let their people learn, 
and were very angry with those who listened to 
Augustine, and killed some of his friends. But at 
last, when they saw that the Christians behaved 
better than those who served the wooden and stone 
false gods they brought with them from their own 




Gregory and Angles. 



4^ 



Chap. YI[. 



PETER'S FEXCE. 



19 



country, tlie}' allowecl their people to learn, and so 
Ijy degrees they all became Christians. 

Ina, who Avas one of the kings of that part of 
England which was then called Wessex (bnt now 
contains Berkshire, Hampshire, and other counties) 




Kiiis^ Ethelbcrt declares himself a Cliristian. 



was very fond of learning, and old books tell us that 
he collected a penu}- from every house where the 
master could spare it, and sent all these pennies to 



20 PETER'S PENCE. Chap. VII. 

Koiiic to pa^- for a. school that he might send the 
young men to, because the}' could get Ijctter masters 
in Rome than in England at that time. These pen- 
nies were called Peter's Pence, and were sent to 
Rome for a great many years ; but learned men now 
think that it was not Ina, but a later English king, 
called Off'a, who first began to send them. 

Now I must tell you what the young men at that 
time learned in the school. First of all to read, and 
to write, and to count ; then to paint pictures in 
books, and to build beautiful churches, and to plant 
gardens, and to take care of fruit trees, and to sing 
well in church. And they taught all these things 
to their friends when they came back to England. 

I should have told you that it was only the clerg}'- 
men who went to school in Rome ; and when they 
came home, though some of them lived in houses of 
their own, yet most went and lived in large houses, 
called convents, big enough to hold a great many of 
them, besides having schools in them for teaching 
children, and rooms where they allowed poor people, 
who were travelling, to sleep; and they were very 
good to the poor and took great care of people who 
were sick. 

And because these clergymen did so much good, 
the kings and the people gave them money, and 
.some land fit for corn-fields and gardens, that they 
might have plenty for themselves, and the school- 
boys, and the poor. 



Chap. A' III. ANGLOS AXOJSf LAWS. 21 



CHAPTER VIII. 

How the Angles and Saxons loved freedom, but made laws to 
punish those who did wrong. 

I AM sui'e you wish to hear something more about 
the Angles and Saxons, now that I have told 
you that they had become Christians lilve the Brit- 
ons, and had left off fighting with them. 

There was one thing that they loved above all 
others, and that was freedom ; that is, they liked 
that every man should do what he pleased as long 
as he did not hurt any body else. And the}' liked 
that when a man went into his own house and shut 
the door he should be safe, and that nobody should 
go into his house without his leave. Besides that, 
they liked wicked people to be punished ; but if a 
man killed another, on purpose, they did not always 
kill him too, as we do, for fear he should do more 
mischief ; they onl}- made him give money to the 
relations of the man he had killed, or perhaps they 
put him in prison for a little while, to teach him to 
be more careful. And the Saxons and Angles 
liked that when a thief stole anj'thiug, he should 
be made to give it back, and that he should be pun- 
ished. 

Rules like these are called laws, and the}' are 
needful, to keep men from doing wrong. All laws 
are meant to do good ; and the Saxons and Angles 
would not let anybody be punished without taking- 
time to find out what was right, as it would not be 
right to let anybody who saw a man killed go and 
kill the man who had done it directly, because he 
would not have time to ask whether it was done on 
[)urpose ; and he Avould be very sorry afterwards if 



2-2 LKOISLATIOX AXli 'miALS. Chap. YIII. 

he found out that he had punished- another person 
when he ought not to have done so. 

So there were noblemen set over different parts of 
eaeli kiuo-dom — called Aldermen (which means the 
same as Elder) — ^to hold courts with the bishop and 
the lesser nobles, who were called the king's Thanes 
(that is, servants) . These courts tried to find out 
the truth in all disputes, and also before any one 
was punished for any crime. When the crime was 
not made out clearlj-, the man was let off, if he 
could briug his neighbours to bear witness to his 
good character. And, in deciding disputes, the 
judge sometimes took the opinion of twelve men 
who knew the facts. This was not' quite like our 
trial 1)}' jury ; but you see that the people had a 
share in judging one another. 

Sometimes the kings wanted to change their old 
laws, or to make new ones. But the free people said 
it was not right or fair to make laws for them with- 
out telling them first what they were to be. So 
when the king wanted to make a new law, he called 
together his Aldermen and Bishops and Thanes to 
hear what the new law was to be, and if they liked 
it they said so, and it was made into a law, and then 
the people obeyed it, and the judges punished those 
who did not ; but if the^y did not like what the king 
wished, t\\Qy all said so, and then it was not made 
into a law. And, besides the Noblemen and Bishops, 
the people of the towns were called by the king, to 
hear what the new law was to be. 

But it would have been very troublesome for all 
the men to go to the king every time he wanted to 
make a new law, or to change an old one, so the men 
in one town said. It will be better to send three or 
four of the cleverest of our neighbours to the king, 



Chap. IX. PARLIAMENT. 23 

and they can let us know about the new law, and 
we will tell them what to say for us, and we will 
stay at home, and plough the fields, and mind our 
shops ; and so they did ; and the men that were 
sent by their neighbours went to the king, but they 
liad no share in making the laws. 

And when the king, and the nobles and bishops, 
and the men who were sent by their neighbours, met 
all together in one place to tallv about the laws, they 
called it a Witena-gemot, which means, in the old 
Englisli of those times, a Meeting of Wise Men. It 
was something like what we call a Parliament, 
which means a talking jplctce., because they talk about 
the best way of making laws before the}' make 
them. 

By these means you see the Angles and Saxons 
were ruled by laws that they helped to make them- 
selves. And when they did wrong, they were not 
punished till some of their own wisest men found 
out that they really deserved punishment ; and this 
is what I mean when I tell you that they were a free 
people, and that they loved freedom. 



CHAPTER IX. 

How Egbert became the first king over all England ; how the 
Danes did great mischief to the people ; how Alfred after 
much trouble drove them away, and how he built ships and 
did many other good things. 

YOU have not forgotten, I liope, that there were 
seven chief kingdoms of the Angles and 
Saxons in England. Now, there were many and 
long wars between these kingdoms ; and also with 
the Britons who were left in the laud. Sometimes 



24 KING EGBEUT— ALFRED'S EDUCATION. Ch. IX, 

one king, and sometimes another, made himself 
more poweifiil than all the rest. He was then called 
Bretivalda, which means " Ruler over Britain" ; for 
the English still called the whole island Britain. 
At last, 827 3-ears after our SaA'iour's birth, the king 
of Wesse.v (that is, of the West Saxons) got him- 
self the power over all the other kings. He was 
called Egbert. He was very wise, and very brave, 
and very handsome ; so the people loved him ver}' 
much, and were very sorry when he died. His son 
and then three of his grandsons reigned after him, 
whose names you will learn another time. 

While these men were kings, some very strong 
and cruel heathens, called Danes, came to England, 
in larger and better ships than the first Saxons came 
in, and they robbed the people, and burnt the 
towns, and did more mischief than I can tell 3'ou. 

I do not know what would have become of Eng- 
land, if a ver^' wise and good king had not begun 
to rule England about that time. His name was 
Alfred. He was the grandson of King Egbert, and 
was as handsome and as brave as Egbert. 

But I must tell you a great deal about King 
Alfred, which I am sure you will like to hear. 

When he was a very little boy, his mother wished 
him to learn to read, and she used to show him 
beautiful pictures in a book of Saxon poems, and to 
tell him what the pictures were about. Little Alfred 
was always pleased when the time came for seeing 
the book ; and one day, when his mother was talking 
to him, she said that she would give him the book 
for his own, to keep, as soon as he could I'ead it. 
Then he went to his teacher, and yexy soon learned 
to read the book, and his mother gave him the beau- 
tiful book. When he grew bigger he learned the 



Chap. IX. 



THE DANES. 



25 



old Saxou songs by heart, and sang them to his 
mother, who loved to hear Alfred sing, and play the 
harp. 

But when Alfred grew up he had other things to 
do than reading and singing, for a long time. I 
told you that the Danes had done a great deal of 
mischief before Alfred was king ; and indeed at the 




Alfred learning to read. 

beginning of his reign they went on doing quite as 
much, and he had more than fifty battles to fight, 
before he could drive them away from his kingdom. 
For some years after he was made king he had not 
one town where the people dared to obey him, for 
fear of the Danes ; and he was obliged to disguise 
himself in poor clothes, and to live with one of his 
own neatherds, whose wife did not know the king. 



20 ALFRED AND THE NEATIIEBD'S WIFE. Ch. IX. 

This neatherd lived iu a part of Somersetshire, 
called the Isle of Atheluey. While Alfred was 
there, some of his best friends used to go and tell 
him how the couutr}' was going on, and take mes- 
sages to him from other friends ; and they all 
begged him to stay where he was till they could col- 
lect English soldiers enough to fight the Danes in 
tiiat neighbourhood. 

While he was staying at the neatherd's house, I 
have heard that the man's wife scolded him one (\^y 
very heartilj'. I will tell 3'ou how it happened. 

She had just made some very nice cakes for 
supper, and laid them on the hearth to toast, and 
seeing Alfred sitting in the house doing something 
to his bow and arrows, she desired him to look after 
her cakes, and to turn them when they were toasted 
enough on one side, that they might not be burnt. 
But Alfred could think of notliing but making ready 
his bow and arrows to fight against the Danes ; he 
forgot all about the cakes, and they became ver}' 
much burnt. When the neatherd's wife came into 
the house again, she soon saw the cakes on the 
hearth, quite black and burnt, and began scolding 
Alfred ver^- severely. 

Just then her husband came in with some of 
Alfred's friends, who told him that they had beaten 
the Danes, and driven them out of that part of the 
country, and the people were asking for him, and it 
was time to appear as their king. You may think 
how surprised the neatherd's wife was, and how she 
asked the king's pardon for scolding him. 

He onl}' smiled, and said, if she forgave him for 
burning her cakes, he would forgive her for the 
scolding. Then he thanked her and the neatherd 
heartily for letting him live so quieth' with them. 



Chap. IX. ALFRED ENCOURAGES EDUCATION. 20 

and went with his friends to find the Danes, with 
wliom he had a great deal of trouble before he could 
drive them away. Their king Guthorm agreed to 
be a Christian ; and Alfred divided England with 
him. 

At last, when Alfred had overcome the Danes, 
and when England was at peace, he thought of the 
great pleasure he had in reading, and he determined 
to encourage all the young people in England to 
love learning. So he inquired for what learned men 
there were in Englaud, and sent for more to come 
from other countries, and paid them for teaching the 
young men ; and he built several schools. 

That he might encourage all his subjects to read, 
he took the trouble to translate several books for 
them out of Latin into English ; and, besides that, 
he wrote several himself for their instruction. 

Alfred was never idle. One part of every day 
was spent in pra3-ing, reading, and writing ; one part 
in seeing that justice was done to his subjects, in 
making good laws, and in teaching the English how 
to keep awa}' the Danes from then- countr3\ He 
allowed himself ver}- little time indeed for sleeping, 
eating, and walking about. 

One of the verj- best things King Alfred did for 
England, was to build a great many ships. He 
wisely thought that the best means of keeping away 
the Danes, or any other enemy that could reach 
JLngland by sea, was to have ships as good as theirs, 
and go and meet them on the water, and fight them 
there, instead of allowing them to land and do mis- 
chief, and carry away the goods, and sometimes even 
the children of the people on the sea-coast ; so he 
built more than a hundred vessels, and he was the 
first king of England who had good ships of his own. 



30 



ALFRKJfS XA VY. 



(Jhap. IX. 



Besides fighting tlie Daues, Alfred made other 
g(;od uses of his ships. He sent some to Italy and 
France, to get books, and many things that the 
English did not then know how to make at home. 




Kiug Alfred building liis navy. 



And other vessels he sent to distant countries, even 
as far as Russia, to see what the people were like, 
and if they had anything in their country that it 
would be useful to England to buy. 1 have read an 



Chap. X. ALFREirS DEATH. 31 

account of one of the voyages made by a friend of 
Alfred's, which the king wrote himself, after his 
friend had told him what he had seen, and when 3-011 
are old enough to read it, I dare say it will please 
you as much as it pleased me. 

Alfred died when he had been king twenty-nine 
years. He was ill for a long time before he died, but 
he was very patient and bore great pain without 
complaining. 

Just before he died he spoke to his son Edward, 
and gave him good advice about taking care of the 
people when he came to be king. 

But besides the words he spoke, Alfred wrote many 
good and true words. I will tell 3'ou some of them. 
Pra}', remember these now ; when you are a man 
you will love to think of them, and to recollect that 
they were the very words of the best and wisest king 
we have ever had. They are about the Supreme 
Good. " This blessedness is then God. He is the 
beginning and end of every good, and He is the 
highest happiness." 



CHAPTER X. 

King Edward — King Athelstane: how he beat the Danes iu 
battle, and took some prisoners ; how he invited his prisoners 
to Slipper, and afterwards let them go free. 

AS soon as King Alfred died, his son Edward was 
made king ; and he had soon a great deal to do, 
for the Danes thought they could conquer all Eng- 
land, now Alfred was dead, and that there would be 
nobod}^ to fight them. 

But they were mistaken, for King Edward was a 
brave man and a wise king, although he was not so 



32 ATIIELSTANE. Chaf. X. 

clever and good as his father, and he kept down the 
Danes while he was king. He had a sister who 
helped him in everything. Her hnsband was dead, 
and she had no son, so she lived with her brother, 
and gave him good advice, and took care of one part 
of the coimtr}- while he was fighting the Danes in 
another. You may think how sorr^' the king was 
when she died, and how sorry the people were too, 
for she was very good and kind to everybody ; but 
they were still more sorry when King Edward died 
soon after, for they were afraid the Danes would get 
the upper hand again. 

The next king was called Athelstane ; he was 
Edward's eldest son : he was very clever and very 
brave. He knew that it was good for England to 
have a great many ships, both to keep awa}' the 
Danes and to fetch cloth and silk from other 
countries, for the English did not make any of these 
things then. So he made a law that every man who 
built a ship and went to sea three times should be 
a Thane^ which means that he would be in the same 
rank and be shown the same respect as one of the 
landed gentry. 

Once I was reading a very old book, and I found 
something in it about this Athelstane that 1 will tell 
30U. A king of the Danes and three other kings, 
who all lived in very cold poor countries, agreed 
that they would come to England, which was a much 
better country than their own, and take part of it 
for themselves ; and they got a great many soldiers 
to come with them in their ships ; and they watched 
till King Athelstane's ships were gone out of sight, 
and then landed, and began to take a part of the 
country. But Athelstane soon heard of their coming, 
and called his soldiers together, and went to meet 



Chap. X. ATHELSTANE AND EGILL. 33 

these kings at a place called Brunanbuvgh, and 
fought with them, and conquered them, and took 
some of them prisoners. 

One of the prisoners was called Egill, and he told 
the man who wrote the old book I mentioned to 
you, that King Athelstane behaved very kindly to 
all the people after the battle, and would not let 
even the enemies that were beaten be killed or vexed 
in any manner, and that he invited him and some of 
the other prisoners to supper at a large house which 
he had near the place where the battle was fought. 

When they went to supper, they found that the 
house was very long and very broad, but not high, 
for it had no rooms up stairs, and there was no fire 
anywhere but in the kitchen and the great hall. 

In the other rooms they had no carpets, but the 
floors were strewed over with rushes, and there were 
only wooden benches and high stools to sit upon. 

The supper was in the great hall. I do not know 
what the}" had to eat, but after supper the king 
asked the company to go and sit round the fire, and 
drink ale and mead. Now they had no fireplace like 
ours at the side of the hall ; but there was a great 
stone hearth in the very middle of the floor, and a 
large fire was made on it of logs of wood bigger 
than one man could lift, and there was no chimney, 
but the smoke went out at a hole in the roof of the 
hall. 

When the company came to the fire. King Athel- 
stane made King Egill sit on a high stool face to 
face with him, and King Athelstane had a very long 
and broad sword, and he laid it across his knees, that 
if any of the company behaved ill he might punish 
them. And they all drank a great deal of ale, and 
while they drank there were several men, called 



34 EDMUND. Chap. XI. 

iiiiustrels, flinging to them Jibout the great battles 
they had fought, and the great men Avho were dead ; 
and the kings sang hi their turn, and so tiiey passed 
the evening very pleasantly. 

The next morning, when Egill and his friends 
expected to be sent to prison, King Athelstane went 
to them, and told them he liked such braA'e and 
clever men as the}- were, and that if they would 
promise not to come to England to plague the people 
an}' more, the}' might go home unliarraed. They 
promised they wonld not come au}' more, and then 
Athelstane let them go home, and gave them some 
handsome presents. 



CHAPTER XI. 

How King Edmund was killed by a robber; how Bishop Dunstan 
ill-used King Edwy; how Archbishop Odo murdered the 
Queen; what Dunstan did to please the iDeople; how King 
Edgar caused the wolves to be destroyed ; and how his son, 
King Edward, was nuirdered by Queen Elfrida. 

KING Athelstane died soon after the battle of 
Brunanburgh. 
His brother Edmund began his reign very well, 
and the English people were in hopes that they 
should be at peace, and have time enough to keep 
their fields in order, and improve their houses, and 
]nake themselves as comfortable as they were when 
.\llred was king. But Edmund was killed b}' a 
robber before he had been king quite six 3'ears ; and 
his brother Edred, who was made king when he 
died, was neither so brave nor so wise as Edmund or 
Athelstane, and did not manage the people nearly so 
well. 



Chap. XI. EDWY— DUNS TAN. 35 

I fim very sony for the next king, whose name 
was Edwy. He was young and good-natured, and 
so was his beautiful wife, whom lie loved very much ; 
but they could not agree with a bishop called 
Dunstan, who was a very clever and a very bold 
man, and wanted everybody in England, even the 
king, to follow his advice in everything. Now the 
king and queen did not like this, and would not do 
everything Dunstan wished, and banished him from 
the country. But the friends whom he had left 
behind him rose up against the poor king, and, in 
order to punish him for not obeying Dunstan, one of 
them, the Archbishop Odo, was so very wicked as to 
take the beantiful young queen, and beat her, and 
burned her face all over with hot irons, to make her 
look ugl}' , and then sent her away to Ireland. When 
she came back, she was so cruelly treated that she 
died in great agony. The men who did this even 
took away a part of his kingdom from Edwy, and 
gave it to his brother, Edgar. Soon afterwards 
Edwy died, and Edgar became king of the whole of 
England. 

When Edgar grew up, he was a good king ; but 
he Avas obliged to make friends with Dunstan, who 
was very clever, and used to please and amuse the 
people when he wanted them to do anything for 
him. He could play on the harp ver}^ well ; and he 
used to make a great many things of iron and brass, 
which the people wanted ver^^ mnch, and gave them 
to them ; and as there were no bells to the churches 
before this time, Dunstan had a great manj^ made, 
and hung up in the church-steeples. And the 
people began to forget how cruel he had been to 
King Edwy, when he did so many things to please 
them. 



36 EDGAR — EDWARD. Chap. XI. 

I must tell you a little about King Edgar now. 
He went to every part of the couutrj' to see if the 
people were taken care of. He saw that all the 
ships that King Alfred and King Athelstane had 
built were properly repaired, and built a great many 
new ones. There was so little fighting in his time 
that he was called '^ The Peaceful " ; yet he made the 
kings of Scotland and the kings of Wales obey him ; 
but instead of taking money from them, as other 
kings used to do at that time, he ordered them to 
send hunters into the woods, to catch and kill the 
wolves and other wild beasts, which, as I told you 
before, used to do a great deal of mischief in Eng- 
land. I have heard that he made these kings send 
him three hundred wolves' heads ever}- year ; so at 
last all the wolves in England were killed, and the 
farmers could sleep comfortably in the country, 
without being afraid that wild beasts would come 
and kill them or their children in the night. 

This was a very good thing ; and Edgar did many 
other useful things for England, but I am sorrj' to 
say, he did not always do what was right, as 3'ou 
will know when you are old enough to read the 
large History of England. 

When Edgar died, his eldest son, Edward, became 
king. Now the queen, who was Edward's step- 
mother, hated him, because she wanted her own 
little son to be king. She therefore determined to 
have Edward killed ; and I will tell you how the 
wicked woman did it. Edward was veiy fond of 
hunting ; one day he was returning alone from the 
chase, and being A^ery hot and thirsty, he rode up to 
the gate of his stepmother's house at Corfe, and 
asked for some wine. The queen, whose name was 
Elfrida, brought him some herself ; and while he 



Chap. XI. 



MUHDER OF EDWARD. 



37 



was driuking it, she made a sign to one of her 
servants who stabbed Edward in the back, so that 
he died almost directly. This cruel murder of the 
young king, when he was ofl' his guard, driuking liis 




King Edwai'd stabbed by order of Elfrida. 



wine, is said to have given rise to the custom among 
no])lenien and gentlemen of "• pledging" each other, 
wliile drinking at feasts. One about to drink would 
call on th(; guest next him, or on some friend at the 



38 ETJIELBED THE UNREADY. Chap. XII. 

table, to pledge himself to protect him while in the 
act of drinking, and he in turn would pledge him- 
self to protect his friend when the cup came to him. 
I need not tell ^'ou, 1 am sure, that after such a 
wicked action Elfrida was very unhappy all her 
life, and everybody bated her. The murdered young 
king was called Edward the ^lartyr. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Wliy King Ethelred was called the Unready ; how the Danes 
drove away the English princes, and made Canute king; how 
Canute rebuked his courtiers and improved the people, and 
how the Danes and Saxons made slaves of their prisoners and 
of the poor. 

THE son of the wicked Elfrida was king after his 
brother Edward. His name was Ethelred, and 
he was king a gTcat many 3-ears, but never did 
anything wise or good. The Danes came again to 
England, when they foimd out how foolish King 
Ethelred was. and that he was never read}-, either 
with his ships or his soldiers, or with good coun- 
sel ; for which reason he was called Ethelred the 
Unbeaby. I should be quite tired if I were to tell 
you all the foolish and wicked things that were done, 
either by this king, or by the great lords who were 
his friends. 

He allowed the Danes to get the better of the 
English everywhere , so they robbed them of their 
gold and silver, and sheep and cattle, and took 
their houses to live in, and turned them out. They 
burnt some of the English towns, and altered the 
names of others ; Ihey killed the people, even the 
little children ; till at last you would have thought 



Chap. XII. RAVAGES OF DANES. 39 

the whole couutiy belonged to them, aud that there 
was no king of England at all. You maj' think how 
unhappy the people were then, the cruel Danes 
robbing and murdering them when they pleased. 
The king was so idle, that he did nothing to save his 
people. There was no punishment for bad men, and 
nobod}' obeyed the laws. 

When Ethelred died, the English hoped they 
would be happier ; for his sou, Edmund Ironsides, 
was a brave aud wise prince, and was made king 
after his father ; but I am sorry to tell 3'ou that he 
died in a very short time, and then the. Danes drove 
all the princes of England away, and made one of 
then' own princes kiug of England. 

The princes of Alfred's family were forced to go 
into foreign countries ; some went to a part of 
France called Normaudy, and some to a very distant 
country indeed, called Hungary. 

It is well for England that the Danish king was 
good and wise. His name was Canute. When he 
saw how unhappy the people of England were, and 
how ill the Danes treated them, he was very sorr}', 
and made laws to prevent the Danes from doing any 
more mischief in England, and to help the English 
to make themselves comfortable again. And because 
some of King Alfred's good laws had been forgotten, 
while the wars were going on, he inquired of the old 
judges and the wise men how he could establish 
those laws again, aud he made the people use them. 
Besides this, he restored some of the schools which 
had been destroyed in the wars, and even sent young 
men to the English College at Rome to study. So 
that he did more good to England than any king 
since Athelstane's time, except Kmg Edgar. 

Have you ever heard the [)retty story a1)out Canute 



40 CANUTE. Chap. XII. 

and his flatterers ? — I will tell it j'ou ; but first you 
must remember that flattering is praisiug anybody 
more than he deserves, or even when he does not 
deserve it at all. One day, when Canute was walk- 
ing with the lords of the court by the sea side, some 
of them, thinking to please him b}- flattery, began to 
praise him very much indeed, and to call him great, 
and wise, and good, and then foolishl}- talked of his 
power, and said they were sure he could do every- 
thing he chose, and that even the waves of the sea 
would do what he bade them. 

Canute did not answer these foolish men for some 
time. At last he said, " I am tired, bring me a 
chair." And they brought him one ; and he made 
them set it close to the water : and he said to the 
sea, " I command you not to let 3-our waves wet my 
feet ! " The flattering lords looked at one another, 
and thought King Canute must be mad, to think 
the sea would really obey him, although they had 
been so wicked as to tell him it would, the moment 
before. Of course the sea rose as it does every 
day, and Canute sat still, till it wetted him, and 
all the lords who had flattered him so foolishly. 
Then he rose up, and said to them, " Learn from 
what you see now, that there is no being really 
great and powerful but GOD ! He only, who 
made the sea, can tell it where and when to stop." 
The flatterers were ashamed, and saw that King 
Canute was too good and wise to believe their false 
praise. 

Canute was King of Denmark and Norway as 
well as England ; and he was one of the richest and 
most powerful kings, as well as the best, that lived 
at that time. He reigned in England for nineteen 
3"ears ; and all that time there was peace, and the 



Chap. XII. SLA VES. 41 

people improved very much. They built better 
houses, and wore better clothes, and ate better food. 
Besides they had more schools, and were much 
better brought up. Canute was ver}- kind to learned 
men, and encouraged the English in everj^thing good 
and useful. 

I am sorry to say, however, that they still had 
many slaves instead of servants to wait upou them 
and to help to till the ground for them. 

By slaves, I mean men and women who are the 
property of others, who buy and sell them, as they 
would horses. 

Formerly- there were white slaves iu almost ever}' 
country : afterwards, when white slaves were not 
allowed b}' law, people went and stole black men, 
from their homes and families, and carried them to 
places so far from their homes, that they could never 
get back again, and made them work for them. 
And it is very lately that a law has been made that 
there shall be no more slaA^ery. 

The reason I tell you about slavery in this place 
is, that the Danes had a great many English slaves, 
and the rich English had a great mauy Britous, and 
even poor Euglish, for their slaves ; for, although the 
Daues and English loved to be free themselves, they 
thought there was no harm in making slaves of the 
prisoners they took iu battle, or even of the poor 
people of their own country, whom they forced to 
sell themselves or their children for slaves, before 
they would give them clothes or food to keep them 
from starving. B3' degrees, however, these wicked 
customs were left off, and now we are all free. 

After wise King Canute's death, there were two 
more Danish kings iu England, one called Harold 
Harefoot, and the other Hardicanute ", lint they 



42 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. Chap. XIII. 

reigued a very short time, and did little worth 
remembering : so I shall say nothing more about 
them. In the next chapter we shall have a good 
deal to learn. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

How King Edward the Confessor suffered his courtiers to rule 
liim and the kingdom, and promised that the Duke of Nor- 
mandy should be king; how some of his wise men made a 
book of laws; how Harold, the sou of Earl Godwin, was made 
king; how he was killed in the battle of Hastings, and the 
Duke of Normandy became king. 

I TOLD 3-011 that when the Danes got so much the 
better of the English as to make one of their 
own princes king, they drove away the princes of 
Alfred's famil}^ ; and I told you, at the same time, 
that some of these princes went to Normandy, which 
was governed b}^ a duke instead of a king. The 
duke at that time was brave and generous, and was 
kind to the princes, and protected them fi'om their 
enemies, and allowed them to live at his court. One 
of the English princes was called Edward ; and, 
after the three Danish kings were dead, this Edward 
was made king of England. 

The people were all delighted to have a prince of 
Alfred's famil}- once more to reign over them, for 
although Canute had been good to them, they could 
not forget that he was one of the cruel Danes who 
had so long oppressed the English ; and, as to his 
sons, they never did anything good, as I told you 
before ; and the people suspected them of having 
murdered a favorite young prince, called Alfred. 

King Edward was very much liked at first ; but 



Ckap. XIII. EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 43 

he was idle, and allowed sometimes one great man, 
and sometimes another, to govern him and the 
kingdom, while he was sa3'ing his prayers, or look- 
ing over the workmen while they were building new 
churches. 

Now it is very right in everybod}^ to sa}- prayers ; 
but when God appoints us other duties to do, we 
should do them carefully. A king's duty is to 
govern his people well ; he must not only see that 
good laws are made, but he must also take care 
that everybody obeys them. 

A bishop's duty is to pra}' and preach, and see 
that all the clergymen who are under him do their 
duty, and instruct the people properly. 

A soldier's dutj'^ is to fight the enemies of his 
countr}' in war, and to obey the king, and to live 
quietly in peace. A judge's dut}' is to tell what the 
law is, to order the punishment of bad people, and 
to prevent wickedness. A physician's duty is to 
cure sick people ; and it is everybody's duty to take 
care of their own families, and teach them what is 
right and set them good examples. 

It has pleased God to make all these things duties, 
and He requires us to do them ; and He has given 
us all quite time enough to pray rightly, if we reall}' 
and truly love God enough to do our duties to please 
Him. So King Edward, if he had loved God the 
right way. would have attended to his kingdom 
himself, instead of letting other people rule it. 

However, in King Edward's time, people thought 
that ever^'body who pra3'ed so much must be very 
holy, and therefore after his death he received the 
name of Edward the Confessor, or Saint. 

One of the great men who ruled England in 
Edward's time was Godwin Earl of Wessex, He 



44 THE NORMANS. Chap. XIII. 

was very clever, and very powerful. After his 
death, his son Harold became Earl of Wessex, and 
did all the king ought to have done himself, and 
tried to keep strangers out of the country. 

But King Edward, who had been kindly treated 
in Normandy, when the Danes drove him out of 
England, had brought a great manj^ Normans home 
with him ; and when they saw how pleasant Eng- 
land was, and what plenty of corn, and cattle, and 
deer there was in it, and how healthy and strong 
the people grew, they determined to try and get the 
kingdom for their duke as soon as Edward was dead. 
And they told the duke what they thought of, and 
he came from Normandy to see King Edward, and 
to get him to promise that he should be king of 
England, as King Edward had no son. 

Now I think this was not right, because Edward 
had a relation who ought to have been king, and his 
name was Edgar, and he was called the Atheling, 
which means the Prince. 

Perhaps if Edward the Confessor had taken pains 
to get the great men in England to promise to take 
care of Edgar Atheling, and make him king, they 
would have done so ; but as they found he wanted 
to give England to the Duke of Normandy, a great 
many of them thought it would be better to have an 
English earl for a king, because the English earl 
would be glad to protect his own countrymen, but 
that a Duke of Normandy would most likely take 
their houses and lands and give them to the Nor- 
mans. So they were willing that Harold, the son 
of Earl Godwin, who already acted as if he were 
under-king, should be the real king after Edward's 
death. 

In the meantime King Edward was busy in 



Chap. XIII. HAROLD AND TOHTW. 45 

building Westminster Abbey, and encouraging Nor- 
man bishops and soldiers to come to England, where 
he gave them some of the best places to live in. 

I must tell 30U, however, of one very useful thing 
that was done in the reign of Edward. He found 
that some part of England was ruled by laws made 
by King Alfred or other English kings, before his 
time, and some parts by laws made by the Danes, 
and that the people could not agree about these 
laws ; so he ordered some wise men to collect all 
these laws together, and to read them over, and to 
take the best English laws, and the best Danish 
laws, and put them into one book, that all the 
people might be governed by the same law. 

King Edward died after he had reigned twenty- 
two years in England, and the Elnglish gave the 
kingdom to Harold the under-king. But he had a 
very short reign. As soon as it was known in the 
North of England that Edward was dead, Harold's 
brother, Tostig, who had been driven out of his 
earldom over that part of the country, came back 
with the King of Norway to fight against Harold. 
But the other English people joined Harold, and 
went to battle against Tostig, who was soon 
killed, and Harold might have been king of all 
England. 

But while Harold was in the North the Duke 
of Normand}' came over to England with a great 
number of ships full of soldiers, and landed in 
Sussex. As soon as Harold heard of this, he went 
with his army to drive the Normans away ; but he 
was too late ; they had got into the country, and in 
a great battle fought near Hastings, Harold, the 
English king, was killed, and the Duke of Nor- 
mandy made himself king of England. 



4fi 



IIATTLK OF HASTINGS. 



Chap. XIII. 



I do not think the English would have allowed 
Duke Willifim to be king so easily, if he had not 
told them that Edward the Confessor had promised 
that he should be king, and persuaded them that 




^^ _ '- vvV'T ' 






Ml'-- 



William rallies the Normans at Hastings. 

the prince Edgar Atheling, who, as I told you, 
ought to have been king after Edward, was too silly 
eA^er to govern the kingdom well. 



Chap. XIII. 



BATTLJ^: OF HASTINGS. 



47 



But after the English Ilaiold was killed, and 
Edgar Atheliug, with his sister, had gone to Scot- 
laud, to escape from the Normans, the English 
thought it better to submit to William, who had 
ruled his own country so Avisely, that they hoped he 
would be a good king uu England. 




Battle of Hastings. 



Ill 



•J 



\ 

48 WILL 

CHAPTI 

WILLIAM L- 

How William the First made cr 
took the land from the Eng 
barons, and how he caused D( 

A GREAT change wa,. r 
the Duke of Normancy 

All the Normans spoke Frt 
spoke their own language ; so' 
understand one another. By 
learnt English ; and some of tl 
into our language ; but the okt r 
most part the same as that whreL 
and write now. 

The Normans were used to li i 
houses than the English. Sc 
England they laughed at th; 
houses they found, and built 1 
for themselves, and made chim J 
with the hearth on one side, ins ^, 
of the floor, as I told you the Eu^^ 
Athelstane's time. 

There was one law the Norma 
vexed the English verj' much. 

In the old times, anj^bod}' wl 
animal, such as a deer, or a hare, .^r 
pheasant, in his fields or garden, o . i.ae 

woods, might kill it, and bring it x.^me for his 
family to eat. But when the Normans came, they 
would not allow anybody but themselves, or some 
of the English noblemen, to hunt and kill wild 
animals ; and if they found a poor person doing so, 



Chap. XIII. 



BATTL? 



\,IAM I. 



49 



But after the Ens 
Edgar Atheling, witb 
land, to escape frc 
thought it better to f 
ruled his own country 
would be a good king ) 



ait his eyes, to cut oft" his 

jay a great deal of money ; 

he Forest Law." I must 

ng William behaved very 



ating himself, although he 

,xons hunt, that he turned 

, t it many villages in Hamp- 

1} their houses, and spoilt their 

•eat forest for himself and the 

ant in, and that part of the 

' " The New Forest." 

rule which AVilliam made, and 

\ not like, but I am not sure 

u.j- ; and as he made the Normans 

t' 3 English, it was fair at least. 

jat it was ; he made everybody 

fc eight o'clock at night, at the 

3II, which was called the Curfew 

it might have been of use to 

) a fire later, yet, as almost all 

he towns and the countr}-, were 

. 3 much safer for everybody to 

^ aave done, if I were to tell you all 

' were made in dear old England by 

1^ there is one I must try to expla.n 

\ \n\\ help you to understand the 

1 ' wy. When William was quite settled 

in Englauv. cliwas not till after seven years, when 

the poor English were tired of trying to drive him 

and his Normans away, he took the houses and lands 

from the P^ngiish thanes and earls, and gave them 

to the Norman noblemen, who were called barons. 

This was unjust. But as the Normans had con- 




50 FEUDALITY. Chap. XIV. 

qiiered the English, they were obUged to .submit 
even to this. But William made an agreement with 
the barons to whom he gave the lands of the old 
thanes, that when he went to war they should go 
with him ; that they should have those lands for 
themselves and their children, instead of being paid 
for fighting, as soldiers and their officers are now, 
and that they should bring with them horses and 
arms for themselves, and common men to fight also. 

Some of the barons who had very large shares of 
land given to them, were bound to take a hundred 
men or more to the wars ; some, who had less land, 
took fift}', or even twenty. The greatest barons had 
sometimes so much laud, that it would have been 
troublesome to them to manage it all themselves ; so 
they divided it among gentlemen whom they knew, 
and made them promise to go with them to the wars, 
and bring their servants, in the same manner as the 
great barons themselves did to the king. 

Now these lands were called feuds, and the king- 
was called the feudal lord of the barons, because 
they received the feud or piece of land from him, 
and ihey in return promised to serve him ; and the 
grea^ barons, were called the feudal lords of the 
sm^ll barons, or gentlemen, for the same reason. 
Ariel when these feuds were given by the king to the 
great baron, or by a great bai'on to another, the 
person to whom it was given knelt down before his 
feudal lord, and kissed his hand, and promised to 
serve him. This was called homage. 

There is only one more thing that I shall tell you 
about William. He sent people to all parts of 
P^ngiand, to see what towns and villages there were, 
and how many houses and people in them ; and he 
had all the names written in a book called ' ' Domes- 



(HAP. XV. DEATH OF WILLIAM 1. 51 

(lay Book." Doinesday means the day of judging, 
and this book enabled him to judge how much land 
he had, and how many men he could raise to fight 
for him. 

At last King William died. He received a hurt 
from his horse being startled at the flames of a 
small town in France, which his soldiers had set 
on fire, and was carried to the Abbey of St. Ger- 
vase, near Rouen, where he died. He was Duke of 
Normandy and afterwards King of England, and is 
sometimes called William the Conqueror, because he 
conquered English Harold at the battle of Hastings. 
He was very cruel and ver\' passionate ; he took 
mone}- and land from every one who offended him ; 
and, as I have told you, vexed the English, and 
indeed all the poor, very much. And this is being 
a tyrant, rather than a king. 

He had a very good wife, whose name was Matilda, 
but his sons were more like him than like their 
mother ; however, you shall read about the two 
youngest of them, who came to be kings of England. 



CHAPTER XV. 

WILLIAM III. — 1087 to 1100. 

How William the Second luid Robert of Nonnaurty besieged 
their brother Heury in his castle; how William was killed in 
the New Fore.st, and how London Bridge and Westminster 
Hall were built in his reign. 

AS soon as William the Conqueror's death was 
known in England, his second son, William, 
who was called Rufus, which means the Red, per- 
suaded the no])lemen in England to make him king, 
instead of his elder brother, Robert. 1 dare say the 



52 WILLIAM II. Chap. XV. 

noblemen were soon sorry they did so ; for althongh 
none of William the Conqueror's sons were very 
good, this William Rufus was the worst of all. 
Robert became Duke of Normandy, but his brother 
William gave him a great deal of mone}', to let him 
govern the dukedom, while he went to fight in the 
Holy Land, where a great many warriors went to 
rescue Jerusalem from the Mahometans. These 
were called Crusaders, which means " soldiers of 
the Cross," and their wars were called the Crusades. 

King William Rufus then ruled over Normandy 
and England too, and behaved as a much worse 
tj'rant than his father. 

I must tell 3'ou a story about William and his two 
brothers, Robert and Henr^'. Robert, the eldest, as 
I told 3^ou, became Duke of Normandy, Avhen Wil- 
liam made himself King of England, but they neither 
of them thought of giving anything to Henry ; so he 
got a good man}' soldiers together, and went to live 
in a castle on the top of a high rock, called St. 
Michael's Mount, close to the sea-shore of Nor- 
mandy, and he and his soldiers used to come out 
and plunder the fields of both Robert and William, 
whenever they had an opportunit3^ This was wrong- 
in Henry in every wa}', but chiefly because he 
robbed and frightened people who had never done 
him an}' harm, and had nothing to do with the 
unkinduess of his brothers. 

Well, Robert and William collected an army, and 
went to his castle, to drive him out, and they con- 
trived to keep him so closely confined, that neither 
he nor his people could get out to fetch water. 
Robert and William heard of this, and that the 
people in the castle were dying of thirst. William 
was very glad, because he said they would soon get 



Chap. XV. DEATH OF WTLLIAM II. 53 

the castle ; but Robert, who was much more gener- 
ous, immediately gave his brother Henr}- leave to 
send and get as much water as he wanted ; and be- 
sides that, Robert sent him some of the best of his 
own wine. Heur}' soon after gave up the castle. 

This story shows j^ou how cruel William was to 
his own brother; so 3-ou may think he did not 
behave better to his subjects, and that the}' were 
not very sorry when lie was killed by accident. 
Some tell the story of his death in this manner : — 
One day when he was hunting in the New Forest, 
made b}' his father, which you read about in the 
last chapter, he had a gentleman named Walter 
Tyrrel with him, who was reckoned skilful in shoot- 
ing with a bow and arrow. This gentleman, seeing 
a fine deer run by, wished to show the king how 
well he could shoot ; but he was a little too eager, 
and his arrow, instead of going straight to the deer, 
touched a tree, which turned it aside, and it killed 
the king, who was standing near the tree. But the 
truth is that it was never known who shot the arrow 
that killed the wicked king. 

Some poor men found William's bod}' lying in the 
forest, and carried it to Winchester, where it was 
buried. 

William Rufus does not deserve to be re- 
membered for njau}^ things, yet we must not forget 
that he built a good bridge over the river Thames, 
just where the old London bridge stood, till it was 
taken down, when the fine new bridge was finished ; 
besides that, he built Westminster Hall, very near 
the Abbey, and when you walk to Westminster you 
will see part of the very wall raised by him. But 
its large and beautiful roof was built three hundred 
years later by Richard II. 



54 HENRY I. Chap. XVI. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HENRY I. — llOO to 1135. 

How Henry the First married the English Princess Maude; how 
his son William was drowned, and how he desired that his 
daughter Maude should he Queen after his own death. 

AS soon as the nobles and bishops knew that 
William Rufus was dead, they determined 
that his younger brother, Henry, should be king, 
because Robert, the eldest, was too busy about the 
wars in the Holj?^ Land, which I mentioned before. 

Now Henry was brave and clever, like his father, 
but he was not quite so cruel. 

He was very fond of books, and encouraged 
learned men, and his subjects gave him the name of 
Beauclerk, which means fine scholar. He married 
Matilda, whose uncle was Edgar Atheling, who 
ought to have been King of England after Edward 
the Confessor. The English people were pleased to 
have her for their queen, because they hoped she 
would make Heniy more kind to them than his 
brother and father had been ; and they called her "the 
good queen Maude" (which is short for Matilda). 
She had two children, William and Maud ; but Wil- 
liam was not at all like his good and kind mother, 
who died when he was a boy. He loved to drink 
wine, and was ver}^ quarrelsome ; and he used to 
say that, if ever he became king, he would treat the 
English worse than the}' had ever been treated be- 
fore : so nobody but the Normans cared for him. 
But he never came to be king, as I will tell 3'ou. 

He had been with his father into Normand}', and 
when the}" were to return, instead of coming in the 
same ship with his father, he chose to come in one 



Chap. XVI. HENRY I. 55 

called the White Ship, where there were a number 
of foolish 3'oung people like himself. They amused 
themselves so loug ashore, drinking before they set 
off, that they were a great way behind the king, 
who got safe to England. The prince and his com- 
panions had drunk so much wine, that they did not 
know what they were about, so that the White Ship 
ran on a rock, and, not being able to manage the 
vessel properly, the}" were all drowned. I have read 
that Prince William might have been saved, but he 
tried to save a lady who was his near relation, and 
in trying to save her he was drowned himself; and 
this is the only good thing I know about Prince 
William. You may think how sorry King Henry 
was to hear that his only son was drowned. 

Indeed, I have read that nobod}" ever saw him 
smile afterwards. He had lost his good wife, and 
his only sou, and now he had nobody to love but 
his daughter Maude. 

When Maude was ver}^ young, she was married to 
the German Emperor, Henry the Fifth ; but he died 
very soon ; however, people always called her the 
Empress Maude. And then her father made her 
marry a nobleman, named Geoffrey, who was Count 
or Earl of Aujou ; and she had three sons, the eldest 
of whom came to be one of the greatest of our kings. 

Now I told you King Henry Beauclerk was very 
fond of his daughter. Her eldest son was named 
Henry after him ; and he meant that his daughter 
Maude should be Queen of I^nglaud after he died, 
and that her little Henry sliould be tlie next king. 

But he was afraid that the Noi-man barons would 
not like to obey either a woman or a little child, and 
that they would make some grown-up man of the 
royal line king instead; and he did evei'ythiug Jn 



56 STEPHEN. CH.VP. XVII. 

his power to make all the barons promise to make 
Maude queen after his death. But they would not 
all promise ; and I am sorry to say that some of 
those who did forgot their promise as soon as he 
was dead, and took the part of Stephen, as I will 
tell you by and by. 

While Henry was busy, doing all he could to 
make his daughter queen, he died. 

I must tell you the cause of his death ; for I think 
it is a good lesson to all of us. He had been told 
by the physicians that he ought not to eat too much, 
but one day a favorite dish was brought to his table 
(I have read that it was potted lamprej's), and he 
ate such a quantity that it made him ill, and so he 
died, after he had been king thirty-five years. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

STEPHEN. — 1135 to 1154. 
How Stephen was made king ; and of the civil wars in his reign. 

AS soon as King Henry was dead, his nephew 
Stephen, who was veiy handsome, and brave, 
and good-natured, was made king. A great man}- 
Norman barons, and English lords and bishops, went 
with him to Westminster Abbey, and there the 
Archbishop of Canterbury put a crowu upon his 
head, and they all promised to obey him as their 
king. But the other barons, and lords, and bishops, 
who, as I told you before, had promised to obey the 
Empress Maude as Queen of England, and to keep 
the kingdom for her young son Henry, sent to fetch 
them from Anjou, which was their own country, and 
tried to make her queen. I am sorry to say that 



Chap. XVII. STEPHEN— CIVIL WAR. 57 

the friends of Stephen and the friends of Maude 
began to fight, and never ceased for fifteen years. 

This fighting was very miscliievous to the country ; 
whole towns were destroyed by it ; and wliile the 
war between vStephen and Maude lasted, the corn- 
fields were laid waste, so that many people died for 
want of bread ; the flocks of sheep and herds of 
cattle were killed, or died for want of care ; the 
trees were cut down, and nobod}' planted young 
ones ; and there was nothing but misery from one 
end of the kingdom to the other. This sort of war 
between two parties of the people of the same coun- 
try is called civil war, and it is the most dreadful of 
all warfare. 

If strangers come to fight, and all the people of 
a country join to drive them away, the mischief they 
may have done is soon repaired ; and the people of 
a country love one another the better because they 
have been defending one another. 

But in a civil war, when people in the same coun- 
try fight, it is not so. The very next door neigh- 
bours may take diflTerent sides, and then the mischief 
they may do one another will be always remembered, 
and they will dislike one another even after peace 
is made. 

I have heard things so dreadful about civil wars, 
you would hardly believe them. It is said even that 
two In'others have taken different sides in a civil 
war, and that when there was a battle it has hap- 
pened that one brother has killed the other, and 
when he found out what he liad done, he was ready 
to kill himself with grief. Only think how dreadful 
such a thing is, and hov/ sorry the fatlier and motlier 
of those brothers must have been ! 

These sad wai's lasted more than fifteen years : at 



58 HENRY II. Chap. XVIII. 

liist eveiTbody got tired of them, and it was settled 
by some of tlie wisest of the barons and bishops that 
Stephen should be king as long as he lived ; that 
Maude should live in Anjou ; and that when Stephen 
died, her son Henry should be king of England. 

Stephen did not live very long after this agree- 
ment was made. He had some very good qualities, 
but the wars, which troubled all England while he 
reigned, prevented their being of much use. He 
was King of England for nineteen years. 



CHAPTER XVni. 

HENRY II. — 1154 to 1189. 

How Henry the Second did many good things for England ; how 
the gentry went hawking ; liow Strongbow conquered a great 
part of Ireland ; and how the kings of Scotland became under- 
kings to the kings of England. 

WE have so much to learn about King Henrj- 
the vSecond, that I think I must divide the 
account of his reign into two chapters. 

In the first, I will write all the best things I re- 
member ; and in the second, all the bad. Some 
things that are middling will be at the end of the 
first, and some at the end of the second chapter. 

It was a glad day for England when 5'oung Henry, 
the son of Maude, was made king. He was wise 
and learned, and brave and handsome, besides being 
the richest king of his time, and having the largest 
estates. 

The first thing he did when he was king was to 
send away all Norman and French soldiers, who had 
been brought to England to fight either for Stephen 
or for Maude. He paid them their wages, and sent 



Chap. X VIII. HENR Y II. — FALCONE Y. 59 

them to their own homes, along with their captains, 
because he thought English soldiers were best to 
defend England, and that foreign soldiers were not 
likel}' to be kind to the poor English people. 

He next made the barons, whether Norman or 
English, pull down a great many of their castles, 
because robbers used to live in them, and, after they 
had robbed the farmers of their cattle or corn, they 
used to hide themselves in these castles, and the 
judges could not get at them to punish them. 

Then King Henry built up the towns that had 
been burnt in the wars of Stephen, and sent judges 
to do justice all tlirough the land, and the people 
began to feel safe, and to build their cottages, and 
plough the fields ; and the countr}^ was once more 
fit to be called dear merry England. 

Instead of fighting and quarrelling with one 
another, the young men used to make parties together, 
and ride out with their dogs, to hunt the foxes and 
deer in the forests, and sometimes the ladies went 
Avith them, to see a kind of sport that was very 
prett}', but it is not used now. Instead of dogs, to 
catch wild animals, the}^ used a bird called a hawk 
to catch partridges and pigeons for them. It took a 
great deal of trouble to teach the hawks, and the 
man who taught them and took care of them was 
called a Falconer, because the best kind of hawk is 
the falcon. 

When the ladies and gentlemen went hawking 
the falcons used to sit upon their left wrists while 
they held a little chain in their hands ; and there 
was a hood over the falcon's heads, that their eyes 
might be kept clear. As soon as the party got into 
the fields they took the hood off the birds' eyes, and 
as soon as they saw any game they loosed the little 



GO HENRY 11. ENCOURAGES LEAIiNING. Ch. XVIII. 

chain they held in their hands, and then the falcons 
flew after the game ; and the ladies and gentlemen 
rode up after them to receive tlie game when the 
falcon had canglit it. 

King Henry loved hunting ver}' well, but he was 
too wise to hunt much. He spent most of his time 
in going about to see what wanted mending after the 
sad civil war we read of in the last chapter ; and he 
emplo3'ed the cleverest men he could find to put 
everything in order, and made the wisest men judges ; 
and he got some learned men to seek out all the best 
laws that had ever been made in England ; and, as 
the long wars had made the people forget the laws, 
he ordered the Judges to go to all the towns by turns 
several times a 3'ear, and do justice among all the 
English. 

King Henry was very fond of learning, and gave 
money to learned men and to those who made verses, 
or as we call them poets ; and by and by I dare say 
you will read about one that Henry was kind to, 
named Wace, who wrote a poem about the ancient 
Britons, and another about the ancient Normans. 

Before I can tell you of a thing that was partly 
good and partly bad for England in this King Henrj^'s 
reign, I must put you in mind that I have told you 
nothing yet about Ireland, the sister-island of Great 
Britain. It was never conquered by the Romans ; 
and the people were as ignorant as the Britons before 
the Romans came, with just the same sort of houses 
and clothes. Thej^ might have been in the same 
state for many jears if a very good man, whom the 
Irish called Saint Patrick, had not gone from Britain 
to Ireland and taught the people to be Christians ; 
and he and some of his companions also taught them 
to read ; and the Irish people began to be a little 
more like those in other parts of the world. 



Chap. XVIII. 



IRELAND. 



fil 



Ireland was divided into several kingdoms ; and, 
in King Henry's time, their kings qnarrelled sadly 
with one another. And one of them came to Henrv, 




Dermot, Iviiij, ni Lemster, doing homage to Henry II. 

and begged him to go to help him against his enemies. 
But Henry had too much to do at home. However, 
he said that, if any of his barons liked to go and 
help the Irish king, they might. And the Irish 



62 IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. Chap. XVIII. 

king, whose name Avas Dermot, promised that if they 
could punish or kill his enemies, he Avould call the 
King of England Lord over Ireland, and that he and 
the rest of the Irish kings should be his servants. 

Then the Earl of Strigul, who was called Strong- 
bow, and some other noblemen, gathered all their 
followers together, and went to Ireland to help 
Dermot ; and, after a great deal of fighting, they 
conquered that part of Ireland opposite to England, 
and drove the people over to the other side ; just as 
the English had driven the Britons to Wales. From 
that time Ireland has always been under the same 
king with England. 

You remember, I am sure, that one part of Britain 
is called Scotland. Now, at the time I am writing 
about, Scotland had kings of its own, and was more 
like England than any other couutr}' ; but it was 
much poorer, and the people were ruder and wilder. 

The king of Scotland, named WiUiam the Lion, 
having heard that King Henry was in Normand}', 
thought it would be a good opportunity to take an 
army into England, to rob the towns and carry away 
the corn and cattle ; and so he did. But several of 
the noblemen and bishops got together a number of 
English soldiers and marched to the North, and 
fought King William and took him prisoner. 

William was sent to London, and King Henry 
would not set him free till he had promised that, for 
the future, the kings of Scotland should be only 
under-kings to the kings of England ; and from that 
time the kings of England always said Scotland was 
theirs ; but it was long before England and Scotland 
became one kingdom. 

I do not think this was quite good for England, 
though the English drove the Scots home again, 



Chap. XIX. HENRY II. — THE POrE. 6.3 

because it made many quarrels and wars between 
England and Scotland. As I haA^e now mentioned 
the best part of Henr}^ the Second's reign, we must 
end our long chapter. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

How the Popes ■wanted to be masters in England ; how that led 
to the murder of Becket ; how Queen Eleanor made her sons 
rebel against their father ; why Henry the Second was called 
Plantagenet. 

IT is a pity that we must think of the bad things 
belonging to Henry's reign. 

I dare say you remember the chapter in which 
I told you how the Angles and Saxons became 
Christians, and that a bishop of Rome sent Augus- 
tine and some companions to- teach the people. 
Now the bishops of Rome called themselves popes, 
to distinguish themselves from other bishops ; and, 
as most of the good men who taught the different 
nations to be Cliristians had been sent from Rome, 
the popes said they ought to be chief of all the 
bishops and clergymen in every country. 

This might have lieen right, perhaps, if they had 
only wanted to know that everybody was well 
taught. But they said that the clergymen were 
their servants, and that neither the kings nor judges 
of an}- couutr}' should punish them, or do them 
good, without the pope's leave. This was foolish 
and wrong. Although clergymen are in general 
good men, because they are always reading and 
stud3ing what is good, yet some of them are as 
wicked as other men, and ought to be judged and, 
punished for their wickedness in the same manner. 



64 MURDER OF BECKET. Chap. XI . 

And SO King Hemy thought. 

But tlie Archbishop of Canterbury, whose nam 
was Tlionias Becket, thouglit ditferently. 

This Becket wanted to be as great a man as t] 
king, and tried to prevent the proper judges frc 
punishing wiclved clergymen, and wanted to be th 
judge himself. And there were sad quarrels betwe 
the king and Becket on that account. 

At last, one day, after a ver}' great dispute, Henr> 
fell into a violent passion, and said he wished Becket 
was dead. Four of his servants, who hearf^" 
and wished to please him, went directly to 
bury, and, finding Archbishop Becket in 
they killed him with great cruelty. 

You may think how sorry King Henry was that 
he had been in such a passion ; for, if he had not, 
his servants would never have thought of killing 
Becket. It gave the king a great deal of trouble 
before he could make the people forgive the murder 
of the archbishop. And this was one of the very 
bad things in Henry's life. 

There was another bad thing, which perhaps 
caused the king more pain than the killing of 
Becket. It was owing, inosth', to something wrong 
which the king had been persuaded to do when he 
was ver}' young. 

You shall hear. I told you how very rich King- 
Henry was ; the thing that first made him so was 
his early marriage to one of the richest ladies in the 
world, although she was ver}^ ill-tempered, and in 
all ways a bad woman. It is said that she was 
handsome ; but I am sure she must have been 
wicked, for she was once married to a French kin' 
who found her out in such wicked actions, that 
sent her away, and gave her back all her money ai 



Jhap. XIX. ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE. 65 

estates, as he did not choose to have so bad a wife. 

Now Heniy, instead of choosing a good wife, 
when ou\y nineteen years old married this l^ad 
Toman for her riches. 

Her name was Eleanor of Aquitaine, and she had 
)nr sons, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John. 
ihe brought up these children very badl}^, and, in- 
itead of teaching them to love their father, who was 
very kind to them, she encouraged them to disobe}' 
him in everything. When her son Henr^' was onl}- 
•en, she told him he would make a good king, 
ver rested till his good-natured father caused 
J 1)6 crowned king, and trusted a great deal 
... o to him than was right ; till at last young Henry 
became so conceited that he wanted to be king alto- 
gether, and, b}' the help of this wicked mother, and 
of the King of France, he got an army and made war 
against his father. 

However, he did not gain anything by his bad be- 
haviour, aud soon afterwards he became very ill, and 
died without seeing his father ; and, when he was 
dying, he begged his servants to go and say to the 
king his father that he was very sorry indeed for his 
wickedness, and very unhappy to think of his un- 
dutiful liehaviour. The king was even more un- 
happ3^ than the prince had been, for he loved his 
son dearly. 

I am sorry to say the other three sons of Henry 
and Eleanor did not behave much better. Richard 
Avas as violent in temper as his mother, but he had 
some good qualities, which made his father hope he 
might become a good king when he himself was 
lead. But Queen Eleanor, with the help of the 
..ving of France, contrived to make Richard and his 
ludrother Geoffrey fight against their father. As for 



6G HIS REBELLIOUS CHILDREN. Chap. XS. 

John, though he was too youug to do much hau 
himself while Kiug Heury lived, yet he became * 
wicked as the rest when he grew up. Geoffre}' ma- 
rled Coustanee, Princess of Brittany, but he die 
soon after. He had only one son, named Arthui 
about whom I will tell you more in a short time. 

Now Henr3''s great fault, in marr3'ing a ba 
woman because she was rich, brought the greater 
punishment with it, for she taught her children t 
be wicked, and to rebel against their father. An 
there is nothing in the world so unhappy as a famil 
where the children behave ill to their parents. 

I beg now, my dear little Arthur, that you wi' 
take notice, that all the good belonging to Henry' 
reign concerns the country. While he was doing his 
duty, being kind to his subjects, repairing the mis- 
chief done in the civil wars, and taking care that 
justice was done, and that learning and learned men 
were encouraged, he was happy. 

His bad actions alwa3^s hurt himself. If he had 
not given wa}' to his passion, Thomas a Becket 
would not have been killed b}- his servants, and 
he would not have suffered so much sorrow and 
vexation. 

And if he had not married a woman whom he 
knew to be wicked, his children might have been 
comforts to him instead of making war upon him ; 
and they might have been better kings for England 
after his death. 

Henry the Second has often been called Henry 
Plantagenet. His father was the first person in his 
family to whom that name was given, and I will 
tell you why. 

When people went to battle long ago, to keep 
their heads from being wounded, they covered them 



Chap. XX, RICHARD I. 67 

with iron caps, called helmets ; aud there were bars 
like cages over their faces, so that their best friends 
did not alwa^ys know them with their helmets on. 
Therefore, the}' used to stick something into their 
caps, b}' which they might be known ; and Henry's 
father used to wear in his helmet a branch of broom, 
called planta genista, or shortlj' Plantagenet ; and 
so he ffot his name from it. 



CHAPTER XX. 

RICHARD I. — 1189 to 1199. 

How Richard the First went to fight iu foreign countries, and 
the ey\\ things that happened iu his absence ; how the Jews 
were ill-treated ; how King Richard was taken prisoner ; how 
he was discovered aud set at liberty, and how he was killed iu 
battle. 

YOU remember that Henry the Second's eldest 
son, Henry, died before his father ; his second 
son, Richard, therefore, became king of England. 
He was called Richard of the Lion's Heart, because 
he was ver^' brave. 

Now, in the time when King Richard lived, people 
thought a great deal more of kings who fought and 
conquered large kingdoms, than of those who tried 
to make their own people happy at home in a small 
kingdom. And so it was in England. People reall}" 
began to forget all the good their late wise king, 
Henry Plantagenet, had done, aud to like Richard 
Plantagenet better, because he told them be would 
go to war, and do great feats of arms at a great 
distance, and that he would not only make his own 
name famous, but that their dear England should 
be heard of all over the world ; and that, when he. 



68 RICHARD I. — Tim ORUSADES. Chap. XX. 

and the Eno-lish geutlemen aud soldiers who would 
go with him, came back, they would bring great 
riches, as well as a great deal of fame. By fame, I 
mean that sort of praise which is given to men for 
braver}-, or wisdom, or learning, or goodness, when 
they are a great deal braver, or wiser, or more 
learned, or better than other people. 

Now, of all these qualities, bravery is the least 
useful for kings ; 3'et I believe that their people as 
well as themselves often like it the best — at least it 
was so with Richard. He had no sooner invited the 
English to go to the wars with him, than the nobles 
who had the large feuds, or fiefs, that I told you of 
in the chapter about William the Conqueror, and 
the gentlemen who had the small fiefs under the 
nobles, and all their servants, made ready to go. 

And the}' went to the same wars that William the 
Conqueror's son, Robert, went to ; for those vrars, 
which were called Crusades, lasted a long time, but I 
cannot give you an account of them now. So I will 
tell you what happened in England when Richard 
and the best noblemen and soldiers were gone. 

First of all, many of the wise rules of King Henry 
were broken, as soon as the people found there was 
no king in England to watch over them. Then, as 
the barons had taken away not only all then- own 
money, but also that of the farmers and towns- 
people, from whom they could borrow any, every- 
body was poor, and some people were really starved. 
Many of those who could not find any employment 
turned robbers, and plundered the people ; and the 
judges were not able to punish them, because the 
king had taken all the good soldiers with him, aud 
there was nobod}- to catch the robbers and bring 
them before the judges. 



Chap. XX. ROBIN HOOD. 69 

There was a very famous robber in those times, 
called Robin Hood. He had his hiding-place in the 
great forest of Sherwood, in the very middle of 
England. He only robbed rich lords or bishops, 
and was kind to the common people, who liked him, 
and made merry songs about him, and his three 
friends. Friar Tuck, Little John, and Allan-a-Dale. 

Then there was another bad thing owing to 
Richard's being in the wars so far off. He was 
often wanting money to pay his soldiers, and the 
English, who were proud of their brave king, in 
spite of all they suffered from his being so far away, 
used to sell anything they had for the sake of send- 
ing the king what he wanted. This was very right, 
while they only sent their own money. But there 
happened at that time to be a great many Jews in 
England : these unfortunate people, who have no 
country of their own, lived at least in peace while 
wise Henry was king. They were very industrious, 
and taught the English many useful things. They 
were the best physicians and the best merchants in 
the countr}' . But the people were jealous of them 
for theu- riches, and they did not lilce their strange 
dress, nor their strange language. So now, when 
there was no king in England to protect these poor 
Jews, they fell upon them, and robbed them of their 
mone}' and goods, which they pretended they meant 
to send to Richard. But most of the money was 
kept by Prince John and some of the worst of the 
barons, who had stayed at home ; and they en- 
couraged the people to treat the Jews very cruelly, 
besides robbing them, and they killed a great many. 
I am sure that, when you are old enough to read of 
the bad treatment of the Jews at York, you will be 
ashamed to think such cruel things could have been 
done in England. 



70 KICHARD I. IN PRISON. Chap. XX. 

There was one person less to blame for the bad 
things done at this time tliau anybodj- else ; I mean 
Queen Eleanor. 

She behaved as well to her son Richard as she 
had behaved ill to her husband, and while he was at 
the wars she tried hard to persuade her youngest 
son, John, not to rebel against Richard, as he was 
striving to do. All the foolish and all the wicked 
bai'ons, both Norman and English, followed Prince 
John ; but there were enough good barons to defend 
Richard, though he was so far off; and a good 
mauy bishops joined them, and prevented John from 
making himself king. 

When Richard of the Lion's heart, as he was 
called on account of his great courage, heard how 
much the people of England were suffering, he re- 
solved to come home ; but as he was coming the 
shortest way, one of his enemies contrived to take 
him prisoner, and to shut him up in a castle, so that 
it was a long time before anybody knew what had 
become of the King of England. 

That enem}" was Leopold, Duke of Austria, with 
whom Richard had quarrelled when they were at 
the Crusade. Now Richard, who was realty good- 
natured, although he quarrelled now and then, had 
forgotten all about it ; but Leopold was of a revenge- 
ful temper, and as soon as he had an opportunity he 
took him, as I have told you, to a castle in his coun- 
try ; but he had soon to give him up to his lord, the 
Emperor, who imprisoned him in a strong tower. 

In old times a beautiful story was told about the 
way the English found out where Richard was. It 
was this. Richard had a servant called Blondel, 
who loved his master much. When Richard did 
not come home, Blondel became very anxious, and 



Chap. XX. 



RICHARD I. AND BLONDEL. 



71 



went in search of him. He travelled from one castle 
to another for some time, without finding his master. 
At last one evening, when he was very tired, he sat 




King Richard I. made prisoner by the Duke of Austria. 



down near the castle of Trifels to rest, and while he 
was there he heard somebod}' singing, and fancied 
the voice was like the king's. After listening a 
little longer, he felt sure it was, and then he began 



72 DEATH OF RICHARD I. Chap. XX. 

to sing himself, to let the king know he was there ; 
and the song he sang was one the king loved. Some 
sa}' the king made it. Then Richard was glad, for 
he found he could send to England, and let his 
people know where he was. 

This is the old story. But it was in another way 
that the people in England heard of the captivity of 
their king. The moment they did so, they deter- 
mined to do everything the}' could to get him home. 
They sent to the Emperor to beg him to set Richard 
at liberty ; but he said that the English should not 
have their king until they gave him a great deal of 
mone}' ; and when the}' heard that, they all gave 
what they could ; the ladies even gave their gold 
necklaces, and ornaments of all kinds, to send to 
the Emperor that he might set Richard free. 

At length the king came home ; but he found that 
while he was awa}', Philip, King of France, had 
been making war on his subjects in Normandy ; 
and, besides that, helping his brother John to dis- 
turb the peace in England ; so he went to Normandy 
to punish Philip very soon afterwards, and was 
killed by an arrow shot from a castle called Chaluz, 
when he had only been king ten years. 

Man}' people praise and admire Richard of the 
Lion's heart, because he was so brave and hardy in 
war. For my part, I should have liked him better 
if he had thought a little more about taking care of 
his country ; and if he had stayed in it and done . 
justice to his people, and encouraged them to be 
good and industrious, as his wise father did. 



Chap. XXI. JOHN. 73 

CHAPTER XXI. 

JOHN. — 1199 to 1216. 

Why King John was called Lackland ; how he killed his nephew 
Arthur, and how the harons rebelled against him, and made 
him sign the Great Charter. 

JOHN, the yoimgest son of Henry Plantagenet, 
became king after the death of his brother 
Richard. 

His reign was a bad one for England, for John 
was neither so wise as his father, nor so brave as 
his brother. Besides, he was very cruel. 

At first he had been called John Lackland, because 
his father had died before he was old enough to get 
l^ossession of the lands that his father wished to give 
him. And not long after he became king he lost 
Normandy and all the lands that had belonged to 
his grandfather, Geoffrey of Aujou. He did not 
know how to govern England so as to repair the ill 
it had suffered while Richard was absent at the 
wars, so that the Pope called upon the King of 
France to go to England, and drive John away and 
make himself king instead ; and then John was so 
base that he went to a priest called a Nuncio, or 
Ambassador, who came from Rome, and really gave 
him the crown of England, and promised that Eng- 
land should belong to the Pope, if the Pope would 
only keep him safe. 

You cannot wonder that John was disliked ; but 
when I have told 3'ou how he treated a nephew of 
his, called Prince Arthur, you will, I am sure, 
dislike him as much as I do. Some people thought 
that this Prince Arthur ought to have been King of 
England, because he was the son of John's ekter 



74 



JOHN.— PRINCE ARTHUR. 



Chap. XXI. 



brother, Geoffrey. And John was afraid that the 
barons and other great men would choose Arthur to 
be king, so he contrived to get Arthur into his 
power. 

He wished very much to kill him at once ; but 
then he was afraid lest Arthur's mother should per- 
suade the King of France and the other princes to 




Prince Arthur and Hubert. 



make war upon him to avenge Arthur's death. Then 
he thought that, if he put out his ej-es, he would be 
so unfit for a king, that he should be allowed to keep 
him a prisoner all his life ; and he actually gave 
orders to a man named Hubert de Burgh to put his 
eyes out, and Hubert hired two wicked men to do it. 



Chap. XXI. DEATH OF ARTHUR. 75 

But when they came with their hot irons to burn 
his eyes out, Arthur knelt down and begged hard 
that they would do anj-thing but blind him ; he 
hung about Hubert's neck, and kissed and fondled 
him so much, and cried so bitterly, that neither 
Hubert nor the men hired to do it could think any 
more of putting out his eyes, and so they left him. 

But his cruel uncle, John, was determined Arthur 
should not escape. He took him away from Hubert, 
and carried him to a tower at Rouen, the chief town 
of Normaud}', and shut him up there. 

One night, soon afterwards, it is said that Arthur 
heard a knocking at the gate ; and when it was 
opened, you may think how frightened he was to 
see his cruel uncle standing there, with a servant as 
bad as himself, whose name was Maluc ; and he was 
frightened with reason : for the wicked Maluc seized 
him by the arm, and stabbed him in the breast with 
his dagger, and then thrcAV his bodjj^ into the river 
Seine, which was close to the tower, while King- 
John stood by to see it done. 

It was for this wicked action that his grandfather's 
estates in France, as well as the Dukedom of Nor- 
mandy, were taken awa}^ from King John. 

For his faults in governing England so badl}^, he 
had a different punishment. All his subjects agreed 
that, as he was so cruel as to put some people in 
prison, and to kill others, without any reason, in- 
stead of letting the proper judges find out whether 
the}- deserved punishment or not, they must try to 
Ibrce him to govern better. And for this purpose 
the great barons and the bishops, and gentlemen, 
from all parts of England, joined together, and they 
sent word to John, that, if he wished to be king any 
longer, he must promise to do justice, and to let the 



70 JOHN— MAGNA CIIARTA, Chap. XXI. 

English people be free, as the English kings had 
made thein before the Conquest. 

At first, John would not listen to the message 
sent b}' the barons, and would have made a civil war 
in the country ; but he found that only seven of the 
barons were his friends, and there were more than 
a hundred against him. Then he said, that if the 
greatest barons and liishops would meet him at a 
place called Runnj'mede, near Windsor, he would do 
what they wished for the good of England. And 
they met the king there ; and, after some disputing, 
they showed him a sheet of parchment, on which 
they had written down a great many good laws, to 
prevent the kings of England from being cruel and 
unjust, and to oblige them to let the people be free.^ 
King John was very much vexed when he read what 
they had written ; but as he could not prevail upon 
them to let him be their king, if he did not agree to 
do what they wished, he put his seal at the end of 
the writing, and so he was obliged to do as the 
barons desired him to do. 

This parchment is called the Great Charter, in 
English. Most people call it b}' its Latin name, 
which is Magna Charta. Now you must remember 
this name, and that King John put his seal upon 
it at Runnymede — because it is of great consequence, 
even to us who live now, that our king should keep 
the promises John made to the English people at 
Runn3'mede. 

A good king would have been glad to promise 
these things to his people, and would have liked 
to keep his word. But as John was passionate and 
greedy, it vexed him very much not to be allowed to 

1 If little Arthur has forgotten wliat I mean by the people 
being free, let him read the eighth chapter over again. 



Chap. XXI. 



MAGNA CIIAETA. 



put people in prison, or to rob them of their money 
or their houses, when he pleased. 

If John had been honest, and had tried to keep 




King .Tolui granting Magna Cliarta. 



liis word, he might have lived happily in England, 
althougli he had lost Normandy. But he was always 
trying to cheat tlie people and the barons, and did 
not keep the promises he made in Magna Charta ; 



78 HENRY III. Chap. XXII. 

and he made everybody in England so angry, that 
they allowed the King of France's son to come to 
England, and make war upon John. So that all the 
rest of his reign was very unhappy ; for although 
many of the barons helped him to defend himself 
from the French prince, when the Pope, who now 
thought that England belonged to him, ordered 
them to do so, they never could trust him, and he 
died very miserable, knowing that he was. disliked 
hy everybody. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

HENRY III. — 1216 to 1272. 

Why taxes are paid ; how Heui-y the Third robhed the people ; 
how Simon de Montfort fouglit against King Henry, and made 
him agree not to tax the people without the consent of the 
parliament. 

THE reign of John's son, who was called Henry 
the Third, was very long and very miserable. 
He was made king when he was only nine years old, 
and there were civil wars for almost fifty years 
while he lived. 

You must think that such a little boy as Henr}' 
was, when he was made king, could not do much for 
himself, or anything at all for his subjects. But he 
had a wise guardian, called the Earl of Pembroke, 
who did many things to repair the mischief done hy 
King John. However, that wise man died very 
soon, and then the king behaved so ill that there 
was nothing but quarrelling and fighting for the 
greater part of his life. 

I think you do not know what taxes are ; I must 



Chap. XXII. TAXES. 79 

tell you, that you may understand some things you 
must read about in History. 

Taxes are the money which subjects pay to the 
king, or to those persons who govern his kingdom 
for him. 

I must now tell you why taxes are paid. Every 
man likes to live safely in his own house ; he likes 
to know that he and his wife, and his children, may 
stay there without being disturbed, and that they 
ma}- go to sleep safely, and not be afraid that wild 
beasts, or wicked men, or enemies like the old 
Danes, maj^ come and kill them while they are 
asleep. Next to his life and the lives of his wife 
and children, a man likes to know that his money 
and his furniture are safe in his house, and that his 
horses and cows, and his trees and his corn-fields, 
are safe out of doors. 

Now he could never have time to watch all these 
things himself, and perhaps he might not be strong 
enough to fight and drive away the wicked men 
who might try to rob or kill him ; so he gives 
money, which he calls taxes, to the king, who pays 
soldiers and sailors to keep foreign enemies awa}-, 
and policemen to watch the streets and houses, to 
keep away thieves and robbers : besides he pays the 
judges to punish men who are found doing anything 
wrong. 

So 3'ou see that whoever wishes to live safelv and 
comfortabl}^ ought to pay some taxes. 

Sometimes it happens that a king spends his 
money foolishly, instead of putting it to the good 
uses I have mentioned, and tlien wishes to get more, 
even by unjust means. And this is what King 
Henry and his father. King John, were always try- 
ing to do. And they were so wicked as to rob their 



80 CJIVILWARS — DEMONTFORT. Chap. XXII. 

subjects, many of whom the}' put iuto prison, or 
threatened to kill, if the}' did not give them all they 
asked for, and that was tlie begiimuig of the misera- 
ble civil wars in the time of Henry the Third. 

The whole story of these wars would be too long 
for us now. So I will onl}' tell you that one of the 
bravest men that fought against the king was 
Simon de Montfort, who was a very wise man ; and 
although he was killed in a great battle, he had 
forced the king and parliament, before he died, to 
observe a custom which is most useful even to us 
who live now. 

It is this : No king can make his subjects pa}' a 
tax without their own consent or that of the parlia- 
ment. Now, though several kings tried, after this 
time, to get money by some other means than these, 
the people would never allow them to do so, and 
their only trying to do it always did themselves a 
great deal of mischief, as you will read by and by. 

And I want you to remember that Simon de Mont- 
fort was the first man in England that called the 
people in the towns to send members to parliament. 
This was in the year 1265. The common people 
loved him so much that, when he was dead, they 
called him Sir Simon the Righteous. 

I am afraid this is a very dull chapter, but }'Ou 
see it is very short. 



Chap. XXIII. EDWARD I. 81 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

EDWARD I. — 1272 to 1307. 

How Edward the First learnt many good things abroad, and did 
many more to make the people happy ; how he caused the 
burgesses to come to Parliament ; how he made good laws ; 
why he was called Longshanks. 

WHEN the iinhapp3' King Heury the Third died, 
his eldest son Edward was abroad, fighting in 
the same country where I told you William the Con- 
queror's eldest son Robert went, and where Richard 
of the Lion's heart spent the greatest part of his 
reign. When he heard his father was dead he came 
home, and brought with him his verj' good wife, 
Eleanor of Castile, who had saved his life in S^'ria, 
by taking great care of him when he was wounded. 

Edward was crowned king as soon as he came to 
England ; he was as wise as Henry the Second, and 
as brave as King Richard of the Lion's heart. 

His wisdom was shown in the manner in which 
he governed his people. His bravery everybody 
had seen before he was king, and he showed it 
afterwards in fighting against the Welsh and the 
Scotch, which I will tell you about by and by. 

While Pxlward was a young man, he travelled a 
great deal into different countries, and whenever he 
saw anything done that he thought good and right, 
he remembered it, that he might have the same 
thing done in England when he was king. 

When he was in Spain he married his good wife 
Eleanor ; and as her father and brother were wise 
kings, he learned a great many useful things from 
them. 

One thing was, how to take care of cows and 



82 EDWARD I. Chap. XXIII. 

horses much lietter than the English had done 
before ; and another thing was, to improve the 
gardens and fields with many kinds of vegetables 
for eating, and with new sorts of grass for the 
cattle. In return for what he learned in Spain he 
sent some good sheep from England to that country, 
because the sheep they had before were small, and 
had not such fine wool as our sheep ; but since the 
English sheep went to feed among the Spanish hills, 
their wool has been the best in the world. 

When King Edward came home to England, he 
determined to do everything he could to make the 
people happ3' : he knew they could not be happy if 
the laws were not obeyed ; so he was determined 
that no wicked person should escape without punish- 
ment, and that all good people might live quictl}^, 
and do what they liked best. 

I told you before that wise Simon de Montfort, 
who was killed in Henry the Third's reign, had got 
the king to observe the custom of not taking money 
from the people without the consent of the parlia- 
ment or of the people themselves. This law King 
Edward improved very much, and he improved the 
parliament too. 

Edward, who was very wise, thought that, as 
there were a great many more towns than there 
used to be in the olden times, and a great many 
more people in all the towns, it would be a good 
thing if some of the best men belonging to the 
largest towns came to the parliament. The largest 
towns in England were then called burghs, and the 
richest men who lived in them were called burgesses, 
and King Edward settled that one or two burgesses 
out of almost every burgh should come along with 
the great noblemen, and the bishops, and the gentle- 



Chap. XXIII. CONSTITUTION OF PARLIAMENT. 83 

men to the parliament. I told 3'ou in the last 
chapter that Simon dc JMontfort did this once ; but 
Edward first made it the rule. 

These burgesses made the parliament complete, 
lu the first place, there was the king to answer for 
himself; in the second place, the great lords and 
bishops to answer for themselves ; and, thirdly, the 
gentlemen and burgesses to answer for the country 
gentlemen and the farmers and the merchants and 
the shopkeepers. For a time the clergy also sent 
persons to act for them ; Init they soon gave up 
doing so. 

So King Edward the First made good rules about 
the parliameut, which were not much changed for a 
very long time. Besides that, he improved the laws, 
so as to punish the wicked more certainly' , and to 
protect the lives and goods of everj'bod}'. And in 
these things Edward was one of the best kings that 
ever reigned in England. 

We will end this chapter here, while we can praise 
King Edward the First, — who was, as I told you, 
wise and brave, and very handsome ; but people 
used to call him Lougshanks, because his legs were 
rather too lono-. 



84 EDWARD J. Chap. XXIV. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

EDWARD I, — Continued. 

How King Edward went to war with the Welsh ; liow Prince 
Llewellyn and his brother David were pnt to death for defend- 
ing their country ; how he made war upon Scotland, and put 
Sir William Wallace to death ; and how ambition was the 
cause of his cruelty. 

I AM afraid I must not praise King Edward so 
much, now we are come to his wars, for he was 
twice verj- cruel indeed. 

You remember that the old Britons wei'e driven 
by the Angles and Saxons out of England into 
different countries, and that most of them went to 
live among the mountains in Wales, where the con- 
querors could not easily get to them. 

These Britons chose princes of their own : one to 
reign over them in North Wales, one in South Wales, 
and one in Pow3's, which was between the two. 
Many of these princes were ver}- good rulers of the 
countr}', and protected it from all enemies, and im- 
proved the people ver}- much, b}' making good laws. 

I am sorry to say, however, that the princes of 
the different parts of Wales sometimes quarrelled 
with one another, and ver^^ often quarrelled with 
the English who lived nearest to Wales. They did 
so while Edward was King of England, and he went 
to war with them, as he said only to make their 
prince come to him and do him the homage that the 
Welsh princes had done in former times. But, find- 
ing that he could ver}^ easily conquer the first of 
them with whom he fought, he determined to get 
all Wales for himself, by degrees, and to join it for- 
ever with England. 

Llewell^'n was the last real Prince of Wales before 



Chap. XXIV. PRINCE LLEWELLYN. S5 

it was taken by the English kings. He loved a 
3onug lady called Elinor de Montfort very much, 
for she was good and beautiful, and he intended to 
marry her. She was the daughter of the brave 
Simon de Montfort who fought against Henr}- the 
Third. She had been staying a little while in France, 
and was coming to Wales in a ship, and was to be 
married to Llewellyn as soon as she arrived. Un- 
happily, King Edward heard of this, and sent a 
stronger ship to sea, and took the young lady 
prisoner, and shut her up in one of his castles for 
more than two years, and would not let the prince 
see her until he should do him homage. 

Llewellyn fought a great many battles to defend 
his native land. At last he had no part of Wales 
left but Suowdon and the country round it. Then 
he yielded to Edward, who gave him Elinor de 
Montfort to wife. But he soon began to fight again, 
hoping that he might by degrees get the better of 
the English, but at the last he was killed by a 
soldier, who cut off his head and took it to King 
Edward, who was then at Shrewsbury. 

Edward was so glad to find that Llewellyn was 
dead, that he forgot how unbecoming it is for reall}' 
a braA^e man to be revengeful, especially after an 
enemy as brave as himself is dead ; and I am sorry 
and ashamed to sa}' that, instead of sending the 
head of Llewellyn to his relations, to be buried with 
his bod}-, he sent it to London, and had it stuck up 
over one of the gates of the city with a wreath of 
willow on it, because the AVelsh people used to love 
to crown their princes with willow. 

Soon after the death of Llewellyn, his brother 
David was made [)risoner by the English. Edward 
treated him with still greater cruelty than he haxl 



86 



EDWARD I. 



Chap. XXIV. 



treated LlcAvellyu, and, after his head was cut off, 
set it up over tlie same gate witli his l)rother's. 

It lias been said, tliat because the bards or poets of 
Wales used to make verses, and sing them to their 




Death of Llewellyn, last of the Welsh Princes. 

harps, to encourage the Welshmen to defend their 
country and their own princes from Edward, he was 
so cruel as to order them all to be put to death. I 
hope it is not true. 



Chap. XXIV. SCOTLAND. 87 

For two hundred years Wales was in a sad state. 
The English kings did not rule it wisel}' ; for they 
did not treat the Welsh so well as they did the 
English. The Welsh, therefore, feeling this to be 
very unjust, were often trying to set up princes for 
themselves. But at last, a king of Welsh descent, 
named Henry the Eighth, thought it right to make 
the Welsh and English equal : and from that time 
they have lived happily together. 

We must now speak of King Edward's wars in 
Scotland. 

I told you that, while Henr^^ the Second was king, 
William, King of Scotland, had made war in England ; 
and after being taken prisoner and brought to Lon- 
don, Henrj' had set him free, on his promising that 
the kings of England should be lords over the kings 
of Scotland. 

Now, it happened that while Edward the First 
was King of England, Alexander, King of Scotland, 
died, and left no sons. The Scotch sent to fetch 
Alexander's granddaughter from Norway, where she 
was living with her father. King Eric, that she 
might' be their queen. But the poor young princess 
died. 

Two of her cousins, John Baliol and Robert Bruce, 
now wanted to be king ; but as the}' could not both 
be so, they agreed to ask King Pklward to judge 
between them ; and King Eld ward was ver}' glad, 
because their asking him showed the people that 
the}' owned he was Lord of Scotland, and he chose 
John Baliol to be king of Scotland. 

You will read the story of all that John Baliol did 
in the history of Scotland. 

Edward watched Scotland very narrowly, and 
when any Scotsman thought that King John Irad 



88 WALLACE AND BRUCE. Chap. XXIV. 

treated him unjustlj-, he would appeal for justice to 
Edward, who said that, as he was Lord of Scotland, 
he would take care that Scotland was governed 
properly ; till at last John Baliol went to war with 
Edward ; but he was beaten,, and the richest and 
best part of Scotland was taken b}* Edward. He 
was very severe, nay, cruel, to the Scots. 

At last a gentleman named Sir William Wallace 
could not bear to have the Scots so ill treated as 
they were by the English governors that Edward 
sent into the country. So he went himself, or sent 
messengers to all the barons and gentlemen he 
knew to beg them to join him, and drive the English 
out of Scotland; and the}' did so, and might have 
made their own country free, if Sir William Wallace 
had not been taken prisoner and carried to London, 
where King Edward ordered his head to be cut off ; 
which was as wicked and cruel as his cutting off the 
heads of the two Welsh princes. 

This did not end the war in Scotland ; for another 
Robert Bruce, who had come to be king after Baliol, 
determined to do what Sir William Wallace had 
begun ; I mean, to drive the English out of Scot- 
land ; and he made read}' for a long and troublesome 
war, and King Edward did the same ; but when 
Edward had got to the border of Scotland with his 
great army, to fight King Robert, he died. 

If King Edward I. had been content to rule over 
his own subjects, and to mend their laws, and en- 
courage them to trade and to stud}', he would have 
made them happier ; and we who live now should 
have said he deserved better to be loved. 

Indeed, he did so much that was right and wise, 
that I am sorry we cannot praise him in everything. 

His greatest fault was ambition, — I mean, a wisli 



Chap. XXV. EDWARD JI. 89 

to be above everybody else, by an^- means. Now, 
ambition is good when it only makes us try to be 
wiser and better tlian other people, by taking pains 
with ourselves, and being good to the very persons 
we should wish to get the better of. 

But when ambition makes us try to get things 
that belong to others, by all means, bad or good, it 
is wrong. 

Ambition caused wise King Edward to forget him- 
self, after conquering the Prince of Wales, and to 
take Wales as if it were his own countr}-, that there 
might never be greater men in Wales than the 
kings of England. 

The ambition to be King of Scotland made 
Edward go to war with the Scots, and made him so 
cruel as to cut off the head of Sir William Wallace, 
because he wanted to save his country from being 
conquered by Edward. 

So you see ambition led Edward to do the two 
most cruel actions he was ever guilt}' of. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

EDWARD II —ISOl to 1327. 

Why Edward the Second was called Prince of Wales ; how his 
idleness and evil companions caused a civil war ; how he was 
beaten by Robert Bruce at Bannockburn ; how the Queen 
fought against the King and took hiin prisoner, and how her 
favorite, Mortimer, had King Edward murdered. 

EDWARD the Second was made king after his 
father's deatli. He is often called Edward of 
Caernarvon, because he was born at a town of that 
name in Wales. He was the first English prince 
who was called Prince of Wales. 



90 PIERCE GAVESTON. Chap. XXV. 

Since his reign the eldest son of the King of 
England has almost always been called so. 

Edward of Caernarvon was the most unhappy 
man that ever Avas King of England. 

And this was in great part his own fault. 

He was very fond of all kinds of amusements, 
and instead of taking the trouble, while he was 
3^oung, to learn what was good and useful for his 
people, so as to make them happy, he spent all his 
time in the company of young men as idle and as 
foolish as he was. One of the first of these was 
called Pierce Gaveston. Edward the First had sent 
that young man away, and on his death-bed begged 
his son not to take him back again, for he would be 
sure to lead him into evil wa^'s. But the prince was 
obstinate, and chose to have him with him. 

After Edward of Caernarvon became king, this 
same Gaveston caused him a great deal of trouble. 
He made the king quarrel with his nobles, who were 
very haughty- and fierce, and did not like to see 
the king always in the compau}' of foolish young 
men. 

Moreover, the queen, Isabella of France, was 
ver}^ proud and hot-tempered, and did not strive to 
make the king better, as she might have done had 
she been gentle and amiable. 

The nobles were greatl}' vexed because Edward 
spent all the mone}' the}' had given to his father in 
making presents to Gaveston and liis other com- 
panions, so the}' joined together and made war upon 
the king. There was civil war for many years ; and 
so many wicked things were done in that war, that 
I am sure you would not wish me to tell them. 
It ended b}' Gaveston being killed by order of the 
barons. 



Chap. XXV. MURDER OF EDWARD II. 91 

This civil war was hardly over before the kiug 
made war against Robert Bruce, the King of Scot- 
land, and went with a harge arm}' into Scotland ; 
but he was beaten at tlie battle of Bannockburn in 
such a manner that he was glad to get back to 
l^igland, and to promise that neither he nor an 3^ of 
the kings of England would call themselves kings of 
Scotland again. 

You would think that Edward would now have 
been wise enough neither to vex the barons and the 
people by foolishly' spending the money trusted to 
him, nor to make himself disliked b}' choosing bad 
companions. But I am sorry to sa}' he did not 
grow wiser as he grew older, and the queen behaved 
very foolishl}' and wickedl}'. The king chose a 
favourite of the name of Spenser ; the queen's chief 
friend was a baron named Mortimer. 

Yevy soon there was another civil war : the queen 
kept her eldest son Edward, the Prince of Wales, 
with her, and said she only fought • against the king 
for his sake ; and that if she did not, the king- 
would give so much to Spenser that he would leave 
nothing for the prince. 

At last the queen and her friends took the king- 
prisoner. They shut him up in a castle called 
Berkeley Castle. They gave him bad food to eat, 
and dirt}' water to drink and to wash himself with. 
They never let him go into the open air to see any 
of his friends. This poor king was very soon mur- 
dered. The queen's favourite, Mortimer, being- 
afraid the people would be sorr}' for poor Edwaid, 
when the}' heard how ill he had l)een used, and 
might perhaps take him out of prison and make him 
king again, sent some wicked men secretly to 
Berkeley Castle, and they killed the king in such a 



92 EDWARD III. Chap. XXVI. 

cruel way that his cries and shrieks were heard all 
over the castle. 

He had been king twenty ^-ears, but had not been 
happy one single year. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

EDWARD III. —1327 to 1377. 

How Queen Isabella was put iu prison, and her favourite hanged; 
how Queen Philippa did much good for the people ; and how 
Edward the Third went to war to conquer France. 

WHEN poor Edward of Caernarvon was mur- 
dered, his son Edward, who had been made 
king in his place, was only fourteen years old. 

Queen Isabella and her wicked friend Mortimer 
ruled the kingdom, as they said, only for the good 
of young king Edward. But, in reality, thej- cared 
for nothing but their own pleasure and amusement, 
and behaved so ill to the people, that the young 
king's uncles and some other barons joined together 
against Mortimer. But he was too strong for them, 
and beheaded one of the king's uncles. 

At last the young king had the spirit to seize 
Mortimer, and he was hanged for a traitor. Queen 
Isabella was jDut in prison : but as she was the king's 
mother, he would not have her killed, although she 
was so wicked, but gave her a good house to live 
in, instead of a prison, and paid her a visit every 
3'ear as long as she lived. Thus, the young King 
Edward the Third, at eighteen years old, took the 
kingdom into his own hands, and governed it wisely 
and happily. 

In many things he was like his grandfather, 



Chap. XXVI. QUEEN PHILIPPA. 93 

Edward the First. He was wise and just to liis own 
subjects. He was fond of war, and sometimes he 
was cruel. 

I must tell you a little about his wife and children, 
before we speak of his great wars. 

His wife's name was Philippa of Hainault. She 
was one of the best and cleverest and most beautiful 
women in the world. 

She was very fond of England, and did a great 
deal of good to the people. A great many beautiful 
churches were built in Edward's reign, but it was 
Queen Philippa who encouraged the men who built 
them. She paid for building a college and new 
schools in Oxford and other places. She invited a 
French clergyman, named Sir John Froissart, to 
England, that he might see everything, and write 
about it iu the book he called his Chronicles, which 
is the most amusing book of history I ever read. 
Queen Philippa aud her son, John of Gaunt, who 
was called the Duke of Lancaster, loved and en- 
couraged Chaucer, the first great English poet. By 
and by, when you are a little older, you will like to 
read the stories he wrote. Besides all this, there 
were some good men who wished to translate the 
Bible into English, so that all the people might 
read and understand it. The leader of these good 
men was John Wiclif, the first great reformer of 
religion in England. In this reign the great people 
began to leave off talking Norman French and to 
talk English, almost like our English now. Aud 
the king ordered the lawyers to conduct their busi- 
ness in J-Cnglish instead of French. 

Queen Philippa had a great many children, all 
of whom she brought up wisely aud carefully. Her 
eldest son Edward was called the Black Prince, it 



94 EDWARD'S FRENCH WARS. Chap. XXVI. 

is said because he used to wear black armour. He 
was the bravest and politest prince at that time in 
the world ; and (Jueen Philii)pa's other sons and her 
daughters were all thought better than any family of 
princes at that time. 

We must now speak of the king and his wars. 
These wars made him leave England, and go to 
foreign countries ver}^ often ; but as he left Queen 
Philippa to take care of the country- while he was 
away, everything went on as well as if he had been 
at home. 

Soon after Edward became King of England, 
Charles, King of France, Avho was Edward's uncle, 
died. And as Charles had no children, Edward 
thought he had a right to be King of France, rather 
than his cousin Philip, who had made himself king 
on Charles's death. The two cousins disputed a 
good while as to who should be king. At last, as 
they could not agree, they went to war, and this 
was the beginning of the long wars which lasted for 
many kings' reigns between France and England. 

In that time, a great many kings and princes, and 
barons, or, as the}' began to be commonly called, 
nobles, did many brave and generous deeds, and 
gained a great deal of honour for themselves, and 
glory for their countr}' ; but the poor people, both in 
England and France, suffered a great deal. The 
English parliament was so pleased that our kings 
should overcome the French, that they allowed the 
king to have such great taxes to pa^^ the soldiers 
with, that the people could hardly keep enough to 
live upon. And the French people suffered more, 
because, besides paying taxes, the armies used to 
fight in their laud, and the soldiers trampled down 
the corn in the fields, and burned their towns and 



Chap. XXVII. GREAT BATTLE IT SEA. 95 

villages, find often robbed the people tliemseh^es. 
And so it must always be in a country where there 
is war. If the captains and officers are ever so kind, 
and the soldiers ever so good, they cannot hcl[) 
doing mischief where they fight. 

In the next chapter I will tell you of two or three 
of the chief things that happened while King Edward 
was at war with France. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

EDWARD III. — Continued. 

How the English gained a sea-fight; how King Edward and his 
son the Black Prince won the battle of Crecy; how Calais 
was taken, and how Queen Philippa saved the lives of six of 
the citizens; how the Black Prince won the battle of Poitiers, 
and took the King of France prisoner, and brought him to 
London. 

YOU have heard, I am sure, that the English are 
famous for being the best sailors in the world, 
and for gaining the greatest victories when they 
fight at sea. At the beginning of Edward's French 
war he gained the first very great battle that had 
been fought at sea by the English, since the times 
when the}'' had to drive away the Danes : it was 
fought ver}^ near a town called Sluys, on the coast 
of Flanders. Instead of guns to fire from the ships, 
the}' had great stoiies for the men to throw at one 
another when they were near enough, and bows and 
arrows to shoot with from a distance. This was 
indeed a very great battle ; the English and the 
French never before fought by sea with so many 
men and so many and such big ships ; and so I 
have told you of it. 



06 EDWARD III. — BATTLE OF VRECY. Chap.XXVII. 

Besides this sea-light, there were two great victo- 
ries won by King Edward on land, which are among 
the most glorious that ever have been gained by the 
P^nglish. The lirst was the battle of Crec}'. 

The French liad three times as many men as the 
English at Crecy, so King Edward knew he must be 
careful how he placed his army, that it might not 
be beaten. And he took care that the soldiers 
should have a good night's rest, and a good break- 
fast before the}' began the battle ; so they were 
fresh, and ready to fight well. 

Then the king sent forward his dear son, Edward 
the Black Prince, who was only sixteen j-ears old, 
to begin the fight. It was about three o'clock in 
the afternoon, on a hot summer's day, when the 
battle began, and they fought till dark. At one 
time, some of the gentlemen near the prince were 
afraid he would be overcome, and sent to his father 
to beg him to come and help him. The king asked 
if his son was killed or hurt. '• No," said the mes- 
senger. " Then," said the king, " he will do well, 
and I choose him to have the honour of the day 
himself." Soon after this the Frencli began to run 
awa}', and it is dreadful to think how many of them 
were killed. 

Two kings who had come to help the King of 
France, one of the king's brothers, and more French 
barons, gentlemen, and common soldiers than I can 
tell you, were killed. But very few English indeed 
were slain. When the King of England met his 
son at night, after the great battle of Crecy was 
won, he took him in his arms and cried, '' My brave 
son ! Go on as you have begun ! You are indeed 
my son, for you have behaved braveh' to-day ! You 
have shown that you are worthy to be a king." 



Chap. XXVII. THE SIEGE OF CALAIS. 97 

And I believe that it made King Edward happier 
to see his sou belaave so bravely in the battle, and 
so modestly aftei'wards, than even the winning of 
that great victory. 

A year after the battle of Crecy, the city of 
Calais, which you know is iu France, on the coast 
just opposite to Dover, in England, was taken by 
Edward. 

The people of Calais, who did not wish their town 
to belong to the King of England, had defended it 
almost a year, and would not have given it up to 
him at last, if the}' could havfe got anj'thing to eat. 
But Edward's soldiers prevented the market people 
from carrying bread, or meat, or vegetables, into 
the cit}', and many people died of hunger before the 
captain would give it up. 

I am sorry to tell you that Edward, instead of 
admiring the citizens for defending their town so 
well, was so enraged at them, that he wanted to 
have them all hanged ; and when his chief officers 
begged him not to be cruel to those who had been 
so faithful to their own king, he said he would only 
spare them on condition that six of their best men 
should bring him the kej-s of the cit}' gates, that 
the}' must come bare-headed and bare-footed, with 
nothing but their shirts on, and with ropes round 
their necks, as he meant to hang them at least. 

When the people of Calais heard this, the men 
and women, and even the children, thought it Avould 
almost be better to die of hunger, than to give up 
the brave men who had been their companions in all 
their misery. Nobod}' could speak. 

At last Eustace de St. Pierre, one of the chief 
gentlemen in Calais, offered to be one of the six ; 
then another of the richest citizens, and then four 



08 ED WARD TIT. TAKES CALAIS. Chap. XXVII. 

other geutlcmeu came forward, mid said they would 
wilhngly die to save the rest of tlie people iu Calais. 
Aud the}' took the keys, and went out of the town 
in their shirts, bare-headed aud bare-footed, to King 
Edward's tent, which was a little way from the city 
gates. 

Then King Edward called for the headsman, and 
wanted him to cut off the heads of those gentlemen 
directly ; but Queen Philippa, who was in the tent, 
hearing what the king had ordered, came out sud- 
denl}-, and fell upon her knees, and would not get 
up till the king promised to spare the lives of the 
SIX brave men of Calais. At last Edward, who 
loved her very dearW, said, " Dame, I can deny 
yon nothing " ; and so he ordered his soldiers to let 
the good Eustace de St. Pierre and his companions 
go where they pleased, and entirely' forgave the 
citizens of Calais. 

The second great victory which made King Ed- 
Avard's name so glorious was that of Poitiers. It was 
gained about ten years after the battle of Crecy. 

King Philip of France, with whom Edward had 
quarrelled, was dead, and his son John, who was 
called the Good, had become King of France. Ed- 
ward went to war again with him, to try to get the 
kingdom for himself, and at first he thought he 
might succeed. 

The Black Prince was in France with a small 
army, and reached a place near Poitiers before he 
met the King of France, who had a great arm}^ 
with at least five men for every one that was with 
Edward. 

But Prince Edward followed the example his 
father had set him at the battle of Crecy : he 
placed his soldiers very skilfully, aud he took care 



Thap. XXVir. BATTLE OF POITIERS. 99 

that thej' should have rest aud food. The battle 
begau earl}' in the morning, and ended as the battle 
of Crecy did, by the greater number of the French 
running away, and a great many of their l)est gen- 
tlemen and soldiers being killed. 

But the chief thing that happened was, that King- 
John of France and his youngest son were taken 
prisoners, and brought to the Black Prince's tent, 
where he was resting himself after the fight. Prince 
Edward received King John as kindly as if he had 
come to pa}' him a visit of his own accord. He 
seated him in his own place, ordered the best supper 
he could get to be made ready for him, and waited 
on the king at table as carefully- as if he had not 
l)een his prisoner. Then he said everything he 
could to comfort him ; and all tlie time he was with 
him he behaved with the greatest kindness and 
respect. 

When Prince Edward brought his prisoner, the 
King of France, to London, as there were no car- 
riages then, they rode on horseback into the city. 
King John was well dressed, and mounted on a 
l)eautiful white horse which belonged to the prince ; 
while Edward himself rode b}' his side upon a black 
pony to wait upon him and do anj'thing he might 
want. And in that manner he went with King- 
John to the palace belonging- to the King of Eng- 
land called the Savo3^ King John was set free 
when peace was made ; but the French never could 
aftbrd money enough to pa}' the English what they 
asked for letting him go back to his people. 80 the 
good King John came back, to keep his word of 
honour, and died in England. 

This goodness and gentleness of the Black Prince 
made everybody love him. And his bravery in 



100 EDWARD III. — BLACK PRINCE. Chap. XXVII. 

battle, and his wisdom iu governing those parts of 
France which his fatlier and he had conquered, gave 
the English hopes that when he became king he 




Edward the Black Prince waiting on John, King of France. 



would be as good a king as his father, and that 
England would be still happier. 

But the Black Prince died at the age of fortj'-six, 
just one year before his father. His good mother 



Chap. XXVin. RICHARD II. 10] 

Philippa, had died some years before. And all the 
people of England grieved very much. Tlieir good 
queen, their favourite prince, and their wise and 
brave King Edward the Third, all died while the 
Black Prince's son was quite a child. And though 
some of the prince's brothers were brave and clever 
men, the people knew, by what had happened in 
former times, that the country is never well ruled 
while the king is too young to govern for himself. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

RICHARD II. —1377 to 1399. 

How Richard the Secoucl sent men round the country to gather 
the taxes ; how Wat Tyler killed one of them and collected an 
army; how he met the King in Smithfield, and was killed by 
the Mayor ; how King Richard behaved cruelly to his uncles ; 
how he was forced to give up the crown to his cousin Henry 
of Hereford, and died at Pomfret. 

RICHARD the Second was only eleven 3ears old 
when his grandfather. King Edward the Third, 
died. He was made king immediatel}-. The people, 
who loved him for the sake of his good and brave 
father, the Black Prince, were very peaceable and 
quiet in the beginning of his reign. But his uncles, 
who were clever men, and wanted to be powerful, 
did not agree very well with one another. 

When Richard was about sixteen, a civil war 
had very nearly taken place. I will tell you how it 
happened. 

The king was not so well brought up as he ought 
to have been, and he loved eating and drinking and 
fine clothes, and he made a great man}' feasts, and 
gave fine presents to his favourites, so that he often 



102 RICHARD II.— WAT TYLER. Chap. XXVIII. 

wanted money before it was the right time to pa}' 
the taxes. It happened, as I said, when the king 
was about sixteen, that he wanted money, and so 
did his uncles, who were in France, wliere the 
French and English still continued to fight now and 
then. The great lords sent the men who gathered 
the king's taxes round the countr}^, and one of 
them, whose business was to get tlie poll-tax, that 
is, a tax on everybody's head, was so cruel, and so 
rude to the daughter of a poor man named Wat 
Tyler, that Wat, who could not bear to see his child 
ill-used, struck him on the head with his hammer 
and killed him. 

Wat Tyler's neighbours, hearing the noise, all 
came round, and, finding how much the taxgatherer 
had vexed Wat, they took his part, and got their 
friends to do the same, and a great many thousands 
of them collected together at Blackheath, and sent 
to the king, who then lived in the Tower of London, 
to beg him to listen to their complaints, and not to 
allow the noblemen to oppress them, nor to send to 
gather taxes in a cruel manner. The king did not 
go to them, but he read the paper of complaints 
they sent, and promised to do his people justice, A 
few days afterwards, the king, with his officers, met 
Wat Tyler, and a great man^- of the people who had 
joined him, in Smithfield, and spoke to him about 
the complaints the people had made. The Mayor 
of London, who was near them, fancied Wat Tyler 
was going to stab the king, so he rode up to him 
and killed him. 

Wat Tyler's friends now thought it best to make 
peace with the king ; so for this time the civil war 
was stopped. 

I have told you this stor^', to show you what 




Death of Wut Tyler. 



CiLVP. XXVIII. RICHARD IT. 105 

mischief is done by cruelty and injustice. It was 
unjust to collect the taxes at a wrong time, and for 
a bad purpose. It was cruel in the taxgatherer to 
behave ill to Tyler's daughter. That injustice and 
cruelty brought about the death of the tax-man, and 
that of Wat Tyler, who seems to have been a bold, 
brave man, wishing to do what was right. 

Soon after this disturbance, the king was anarried 
to a princess of Bohemia, who was so gentle and 
kind to the people, that they called her the good 
Queen Anne, and they hoped that she would per- 
suade the king to send awa}' his bad companions ; 
but the}' were disappointed, for Richard II. was too 
ill-tempered to take her advice, and the people, who 
had loved him when he was a child for his father's 
sake, now began to hate him. 

In the meantime he was at war with Scotland, 
and with Ireland, and with France ; and instead of 
gaining battles, and making the name of our dear 
England glorious, he lost, by degrees, all credit, and 
was laughed at by foreigners, as well as by his own 
subjects. 

1 have told you that the king had several uncles, 
who took care of the kingdom while he was a child. 
Instead of being grateful for this, he ordered one to 
be put to death, and ill-used another ; and when his 
third uncle, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 
died, he took all his money and lands awaj- from 
John's sou, whose name was Henry of Hereford, and 
made use of his riches to spend in eating, drinking, 
and riot of all kinds. 

The good Queen Anne died soon, and she liad 
no son, and the people all began to wish they had 
another king instead of this Richard, who was a 
disgrace to his good father the Black Prince. 



106 



HENRY OF HEREFORD. 



Chap. XXVIII. 



Now Henry of Hereford, who wtis tlie king's 
cousin, was very clever ; and the people knew he 
was very brave, for he had fought in the armies of 




Henry of Hereford claiming the Crown of England. 



some foreign princes at one time. Besides, he 
behaved kindly and good-naturedl}' to the people, so 
a good many of them began to wish him to be king. 
Then Richard grew afraid of him, and sent iiim out 
of the country. 



Chap. XXVIII. UWIIARD II. DErOSED. 107 

Sooii word Avas sent to Henry that King Richard 
was gone to IreLand to quiet some disturbance there, 
and that, if lie pleased to come to EngU\nd and make 
himself king, he would find many persons ready to 
take his part. 

Henry came accordingl}', and, on King Richard's 
return from Ireland, he forced him to call the parlia- 
ment to meet him in London. Now the lords and 
the gentlemen, or, as they began to be called, the 
commons of the parliament, all agreed that Richard 
was too cruel, and revengeful, and extravagant to 
be king any longer, and that his cousin, Heurj' of 
Hereford, son of the great Duke of Lancaster, 
should be king. 

Richard was forced to give up the crown ; and of 
all the people who had lived with him, and to whom 
he had shown kindness, there was only one, the 
Bishop of Carlisle, who took his part, or said a word 
in his favour ; so he was put into prison at Pomfret 
Castle, and some time afterwards he died there. 
.Some people say he was killed by a bad man called 
Exton ; others say he was starved to death. 



108 HENRY IV. Chap. XXIX. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

HENRY IV. — 1399 to 1413. 

How Henry the Fourth had a disijute with Earl Percy and his 
son Hotspur ahout their Scotch prisoners; liow the Percys 
went to war with the King, and were joined l)y Owen Glen- 
dower; how Hotspur was killed in the battle of Shrewsbury; 
why some men are made nobles, and how they are useful to 
their country ; how King Henry punished people on account 
of their religion. 

I THINK that Henry of Hereford did not act 
rightly in taking the kingdom from his cousin 
Richard, but he became a good king for England. 
He was the first king of the family of Lancaster, and 
is sometimes called Henry of Lancaster. 

During the fourteen years Henry was king he was 
chiefly busy in making or improving laws for the 
people. 

He had little foreign war to disturb him ; but the 
Welsh and Scotch several times made war upon the 
English who lived nearest to them. There was in 
Henry's days a very famous Scotch earl called 
James of Douglas, and he came into the north of 
England and began to burn the villages, and rob the 
people, until the Earl of Northumberland, whose 
name was Percy, and his son, Henry Hotspur, gath- 
ered their soldiers together, and went to fight Doug- 
las, at a place called Holmedon, and the3' beat him, 
and took a great many prisoners. 

In those days it was the custom for everybody to 
do as they pleased with the prisoners they took. A 
cruel man might kill them, another might make 
slaves of them; one, a little kinder, might say, "If 
your friends will send me some moue}', I will let 



Ch. XXIX. OWEN GLENDOWER— THE PERCYS. 109 

you go ; " but the kindest of all would let them go 
home again without paying for it. 

Now King Henry had a dispute with Earl Percy 
about those Scotch prisoners, and Percy and his son 
were so affronted, that the}' determined to make a 
civil war, and they were joined b}' several English 
lords ; but the person who helped them most was a 
Welsh gentleman, named Owen Glendower, who 
was related to the old princes of Wales. 

He was very angry with King Henrj' the Fourth, 
because he thought he behaved ill to Wales, which 
was his own country ; besides, he had been a friend 
of poor Richard the Second ; and though he might 
have thought it right to keep him in prison, he could 
not bear to think of his having been put to death. 

These reasons made him join the Percys, and the}'^ 
collected a very large army to fight against King 
Henr}-. The Earl Percy's son was called Harry 
Hotspur, because he was ver}- impatient, as well as 
very brave. Indeed, he and the young Prince of 
Wales, who was called Henry of Monmouth, were 
the two bravest young men in England. The king's 
arm}- met the army that Percy and Owen Glendower 
had raised against him near Shrewsbury, and then 
everybody thought a great deal about the two young- 
Harrys, who were both so brave and handsome. 
The battle was fought, and the king gained the 
victory. Henry of Monmouth behaved as bravely 
as the Black Prince used to do, and he was not hurt 
in the battle. Harry Hotspur was equally brave, 
but he was killed. Oh ! civil war is a sad thing. 
Tliere was one of the finest young noblemen in 
P^ngland killed among Englishmen, who ought to 
have agreed, and helped, and loved one another, 
instead of fiohtino-. 



no TTENNY TV. Chap. XXTX. 

Perhaps 3'ou will wonder wli}' I mention the young- 
nohlemen partieulai'ly, when so man}' other English- 
men were killed ; and you will wonder if it is of any 
use that there should be noblemen. 

I think it is, and I will tell you why. The first 
noblemen were those men who had been either very 
good in all things, oi' who had found out something 
useful for everybody, or who had been very brave 
in battle, or ver}' wise in giving good advice. 

These their companions called Nobles, and paid 
them great respect, and gave them more lands, and 
goods, and money, than other people. And in the 
Bible you read that the names of those men who do 
rightly shall be remembered. Now when a man has 
been made a noble, and his name is remembered be- 
cause he is good, or manly, or clever, or brave, or 
wise, his sons will sa}^ to themselves, "Our dear 
father has been made a noble, because he was good 
or brave ; we must be good or brave, or useful too, 
that people may see that he taught us well, and that 
we know how to love and honour him, b}- following 
his good example." Then their children will think 
of how good both their father and grandfather were, 
and that they will not do anything that they would 
not have liked, and so they will try to keep the good 
and noble name one after another, as it was given 
to the first of their grandfathers. If the young- 
nobles do this properly, you know they will always 
l)e ready to do good to their country, by helping to 
make good laws, and to do justice in time of peace, 
and to fight for the safety and glory of their own 
land in time of war, as their fathers did. Then they 
Avill say to themselves, '' I am noble and rich, and 
other people will look up to me ; I must, therefore, 
try to be better than others, that I may set a good 



Chap. XXIX. IXFLVENCE OF NOBLES. Ill 

example to the young, and that those who are old 
enough to remenil)er my father and grandfather 
may think I have done as well as they did." 

The nobles of England are useful to the countr}'. 
As they are rich enough to live without working for 
themselves and their families, they have time to be 
always ready when the king wants advice ; or when 
there is a parliament to make laws ; or when the 
king wishes to send messages to other kings. And 
as their forefathers were made noble because of their 
goodness, wisdom, or bravery, they have in general 
followed their example ; and they have always, next 
after the king, l)een the people we have loved best, 
and who have done us the most good. 

The noblemen made King John do justice to the 
people, and give them the good laws written in the 
Great Charter. The noblemen prevented the foolish 
Kings I-Ienry the Third and Richard the Second from 
doing a great deal of mischief, and they helped our 
good Kings Henry the Second, Edward the First, 
and Edward the Third to do all the good and useful 
things I have told you of. So 3'ou see that noble- 
men have been of great use in England. 

When 3'ou are older you will understand this 
better, and you will find out many more reasons to 
be glad that we have noblemen in our own dear 
country. 

Henry the Fourth died at Westminster, when he 
had been king only fourteen j^ears. He was wise 
and just, except in one thing ; and that was, that 
he punished persons Avho did not agree with the 
bishops about the proper wa}' to worship God. 
Some good men, called Lollards, who loved to read 
the Bible in English, were put in prison, and other- 
wise ill-used, on that account. 



112 IIENIiY V. Chap. XXX. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

HENRY v.— 1413 to 1422. 

How Henry the Fifth was very gay aud thoughtless when he 
was Prince of AVales, but became a great and wise King ; how 
he went to war with France, and gained the battle of Agin- 
court, and how the people lamented at his death. 

I THINK you would have liked King Henry the 
Fifth who was often called Harry of Monmouth. 

He was very good-natured and very gay ; yet, 
when it was right to be grave and wise, he could be 
so, and we never had a braver king in England. 

1 must tell you a little about his behaviour while 
he was a young man, and onl}' Prince of AYales, 
before I say anji^thing about the time when he was 
king. 

It is said that he was veiy merry and fond of 
playing wild pranks with gay and reckless young 
men of low birth ; but all the stories told about his 
conduct at this time can hardly be true. I will tell 
you some of them. 

Once, when he had been doing something wrong, 
his father, who was ill at Windsor, sent for him, and 
he went directl}^ in a very droll dress, that he had 
had made for some frolic ; it was of light blue satin, 
and it had a great many odd puckers in the sleeves, 
and at every pucker he made the tailor leave a bit of 
blue thread and a tag like a needle. When the king 
saw such a strange coat, he was a little vexed that 
he should dare to come to him, while he was so ill, 
in it. But Prince Harry said he was in such a hurry 
to see his father, and to do whatever he wished for, 
that lie could not spare time to take oif the coat, 
and so he came in it just as he was ; and his father 
foi'oave him because of his obedience. 



rHLA.p. XXX. JUDGE GASCOYNE. 113 

Another time he was strolling fibout in London 
with some idle merr}' companions, when he heard 
that one of his servants had behaved ill, and had 
been carried before the chief judge, whose name was 
Sir William Gascoyue. He went direetl}- to the 
court where the judge was, and desired him to let 
his servant go because he was the king's son. But 
the judge refused, and said he was sitting there for 
the king himself, to do justice to ever^'body alike, 
and he would not let the man go till he had been 
punished. The prince was in too great a passion to 
think rightly at that moment, and he struck the 
chief justice. That wise and good man instantl}' 
ordered the officers to take the bold young prince to 
prison, and it was not till he had made very humble 
excuses that he forgave him, and set him free. He 
said that such an act was worse in the king's son 
than in anybody else ; because, as he was sitting in 
the court for the king, other people, if they offended, 
were onl}' subjects doing wrong, but the prince, 
being the king's son, as well as his subject, was 
offending both king and father. Harrj- had the 
sense to understand this ; and when his passion was 
over he thanked the judge, promised never to behave 
so ill again, and kept his word. 

The king, you may be sure, was pleased with the 
judge, who was not afraid to do justice on his son ; 
and he praised his son for getting the better of his 
passion, and submitting to the judge without com- 
plaining. I must tell 30U, however, that Gascoyne 
was removed from being chief justice soon after 
Henry became king, but that was because he had 
grown ver}' old and was no longer fit to do the duty 
of a judge. 

When King Henry the Fourtli died, the people may 



lU HENRY V. Chap. XXX. 

have been a little afraid lest Harry should not make 
a good king, thongli he might be a merry one. If 
they were the}' soon saw they were mistaken. 

None of our kings was ever more wise, or clever, 
or brave, or fonder of doing justice ; and even now 
nobody in England ever thinks of Henry the Fifth 
without loving him. 

In the very beginning of his reign there was a 
war with France. The poor King of France was 
mad. His queen was a very wicked woman, and 
his son very young. All the noblemen were quarrel- 
ling with one another, and the whole together witli 
the King of England. 

So Henry made read}'^ his arm}-, and sailed over 
to France, and, after having taken a town called 
Harfleur, met a very large French army at a place 
called Agincourt. 

The English soldiers were tired with a long march ; 
they had had very bad weather to march in, which 
made many of them ill, and they had not enough to 
eat. But ih&y loved the king ; they knew he was 
as badly off as they were, and he was so kind and 
good-humoured, and talked so cheerfully to them, 
that in spite of hunger, and weariness, and sickness, 
they went to battle in good spirits. The English 
bowmen shot their long arrows all at once with such 
force, that the French soldiers, especially those on 
horseback, were obliged to give way ; a,nd in a very 
short time King Henry won as great a victory at 
Agincourt, as Edward the Third and the Black 
Prince did at Crecy and Poitiers. One day, when 
you are older, you will read a most delightful play 
written by the poet Shakspeare about this battle, and 
some other parts of King Henry the Fiftli's life. 

Not long after the battle, Henry went to Paris, 



Chap. XXX. HIS DEATH. Il5 

and there the princes and nobles told him that, if 
he would let the poor mad King Charles be called 
king while he lived, Henry and his children should 
be always Kings of France. And so peace was made, 
and Henry governed France for a little while, and 
he married the French Princess Catherine, and they 
had a little son born at Windsor, who was called 
Henry of Windsor, Prince of Wales, and was after- 
wards King Henry the Sixth. 

Very soon afterwards. King Henry the Fifth was 
taken very ill at Paris. He knew he was going to 
die, so he sent for his brothers and the other English 
lords who were in France, and gave them a great 
deal of good advice about ruling England and 
France, and begged them to take care of his little 
son. He then told his chaplain to chant some of 
the psalms to him, and died very quietly. 

The English people wept and lamented bitterly, 
when they found that they had lost their king. 

He was kind to them, and so true and honest, that 
even his enemies trusted entirely to him. He was 
very handsome, and so good-humoured, that every- 
body who knew him liked his company; so good 
and just, that wicked men were afraid of him ; so 
wise, that his laws were the fittest for his people 
that could have been made at the time ; so brave, 
that the very name of Henry, King of England, 
kept his enemies in fear. And above all this, he 
was most pious towards God. 



IIG HENRY VI. Chap. XXXI. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

HENRY VI. —1422 to 1461. 

llow Henry the Sixth became King while he was an infant ; how 
the Dnke of Bedford governed in France ; how Joan of Arc 
persuaded the Dauphin and the French soldiers to take cour- 
age ; how they nearly drove the English out of France ; how 
Joan was taken prisoner and put to death. 

HENRY of Windsor, the poor little Prince of 
Wales, was not a j^ear old when his father 
died. He was made King of England directi}', and 
became King of France soon after. * 

The parliament that his wise father left gave 
good gnardians and protectors to the little king, and 
to England and to France. 

The war in France began again, for the mad king 
having died, his son, who was almost as good for 
France as our Heni-y of Monmouth had been for 
England, began to try to get back all his father's 
kingdom. However, the Duke of Bedford, uncle to 
the little King of England, managed so well for the 
English, that it reall}' seemed as if France was 
always to be subject to the King of England. 

It was fortunate, for the good of both countries, 
that it was not to be so. 

When the people of France were so tired of war 
that they were not able to fight longer, and the 
king himself had lost all hope of getting back his 
kingdom, one of the strangest things happened that 
I ever read about. 

A young woman called Joan of Arc, who was 
servant at a countr}^ inn at Domrem}* in France, 
had heard a great man}- people talk about the sad 
state of all the country, and the great unhappiness 



Chap. XXXI. JOAN OF ARC. 117 

of the yoimg French Pi'ince Charles. She; thouglit 
about this so much, that at hxst she fancied that 
God had sent her to help the Prince to get back his 
kingdom, and to drive the English out of France. 

So she dressed herself like a young man, and got 
a sword and spear, and went to Chinon, a castle 
Avhere the prince was, and there she told him, and 
the few French nobles who were with him, that, if 
they would only follow her when they were next at- 
tacked, she would teach them how to conquer the 
English. 

I should tell you, that the eldest sou of the King 
5f France was called the Dauphin, as the eldest son 
of the King of England is called Prince of Wales. 

Well, at first the dauphin and his friends thought 
that Joan was mad ; but she began to talk to them 
so wisely, that they listened to her. She cheered the 
dauphin, who seemed quite without hope of saving 
his kingdom ; she said that he ought to call himself 
king directly, and go to Rheims, where all the kings 
of France used to be crowned, and have the crown 
put upon his head ; that the people might know he 
was king. 

She told the nobles that the English, if they con- 
quered France, would take away their estates and 
make them beggars ; that it was shameful to let the 
poor young dauphin be driven from the kingdom of 
his forefathers ; and that they deserved to lose the 
name of nobles if they were afraid to fight for their 
own country and king. 

Then she went among the common soldiers and 
the poor people. She said, God would have pity 
on them, if they would fight bravely against the 
English, who were strangers, and who only came to 
France to take all that was good from them, and 



118 MURDER OF JOAN OF ARC. Chap. XXXI. 

spoil their towns, and trample down their corn, and 
kill their king, and make beggars of them all. 

So by the time the French and English met again 
in battle, the French had recovered their spirits. 
And when the king, and the nobles, and the people 
saw that young woman go in fi'ont of the army, 
and into ever}* dangerous place, and fight better than 
any of the bravest soldiers, they would have been 
ashamed not to follow her ; so that her bravery and 
her good advice did reall}' begin to save her coun- 
try. 

The French drove the English army away from 
Orleans, and Joan of Arc has been called the Maid 
of Orleans eA^er since. 

The Maid of Orleans next persuaded the dauphin 
to go and have the crown set on his head, and so 
make himself king ; and as soon as that was done, 
a great many people came to him, and he ver^' soon 
had a large army, with which he drove the English 
out of the greater part of France. 

It was a grand sight when Charles the Dauphin 
went to Rheims, and was crowned, wdiile all the 
nobles stood b}', and the Maid of Orleans close to 
him, holding the white flag of France in her hand. 

I am sorrj' to tell 3'ou the end of the brave Maid 
of Orleans. She was taken prisoner by the English, 
and kept in prison for some time. At last, they 
were so cruel as to burn her alive, because they 
could not forgive her for saving her country and her 
king. But they pretended she was a witch. 

Soon after this cruel murder the Duke of Bedford 
died, and by degrees the English lost ever3'thing in 
France but a ver^' little corner of the country, out of 
all that Henry the Fifth had conquered. 

I shall end this chapter here, because we have 



Chap. XXXII. HENRY VI. 110 

nothing more to say about France for a long while ; 
but we shall have to read of some sad civil wars in 
England, which began at this time. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

HENRY VI. — Continued. 

How Queen Margaret aud Cardinal Beaufort are said to have 
caused Duke Humplirey to be murdered ; how the wars of the 
White aud the Red Roses were brought about ; how Edward 
of York was chosen King by the Londoners. 

HENRY the Sixth grew up to be a ver}' good 
but very weak man. He was married to a 
beautiful lady called Margaret of Anjou, who was 
very fierce and cruel, and who behaved more like a 
man than a woman. She wanted to govern the 
kingdom entirely herself ; aud as the only person 
she was afraid of was the king's uncle, Humphrey, 
the good Duke of Gloucester, it is supposed that she 
agreed with Cardinal Beaufort and another person, 
who hated Duke Humphrey, and that they had him 
put to death very cruell}-. 

Soon after this, as the queen and her friends l)e- 
haved so ill, several of the noblemen, most of the 
gentlemen in Parliament, and the people in London, 
began to think it would be better to take away the 
crown from the poor king, who was too sill}- to 
govern for himself, and was often so ill that he 
could not speak for days together. 

The person they wished to make king was liis 
cousin the Duke of York. 

I have read, that some gentlemen were walking 
together in tlie Temple garden after dinner, and~dis- 



J 20 WARS OF THE ROSES. Chap. XXXII. 

puting about the king and the Duke of York ; one 
of them took the king's part, and said, that, though 
he was silly, his little son Edward, who was just 
born, might be wise ; and he was determined to de- 
fend King Henry and his family, and desired all 
who agreed with him to do as he did, and pluck a 
red rose, and wear it in their caps, as a sign that 
they would defend the family of Lancaster. 

The gentlemen who thought it would be best to 
have the Duke of York for their king turned to a 
white-rose bush, and each took a white rose, and 
put it in his cap, as a sign he loved the Duke of 
York ; and for more than thirt}' 3'ears afterwards the 
civil wars in England were called the Wars of the 
Roses. 

At first, the part}' of York only wished Richard, 
Duke of York, to be the king's guardian, and govern 
for him ; and as Duke Richard was wise and good, it 
might have been well for England if he had been 
allowed to do so. 

But Queen Margaret raised an army to keep away 
the Duke of Y^'ork, and the first battle between the 
people of the Red Rose and the people of the White 
Rose was fought at St. Alban's. 

The Yorkists gained the victory, and there was 
quiet for a few years. Then another battle was 
fought, and the queen, with the little prince, went 
to Scotland, and for some time the Duke of Y'ork 
ruled the kingdom with the king's consent. 

However, the queen found means to come back 
to England, and to gather another great arm}', with 
which she fought the Duke of Y''ork's army several 
times, and at last beat them, at a place called Wake- 
field Green. She cut off the Duke of Y"ork's head, 
and stuck a paper crown upon it, and put it over 
one of the gates of York. 



(.'H.vr. XXXII. EDWARD VIIOHEN KING. 121 

Could yon luive thought ii woman would be so 
cruel ? 

One of her friends, enlled Clifford, did something 
still worse. He saw a handsome youth of seventeen, 
aloug with au old clergyman, who was his tutor, 
trying to get away to some safe place after the 
battle : he asked who he was, and when the child 
said he was Rutland, the Duke of York's son, the 
fierce Clifford stabbed him to the heart with his 
dagger, although the poor youth and his good tutor 
fell upon their knees and begged for mercy. 

When the people knew of these two cruel things, 
they began to hate Queen Margaret, and a great 
many went to the Duke of York's eldest son, Edward, 
and desired he would make himself king. 

Now this Edward was brave and handsome, and 
loved laughing and merriment, but he was very 
cruel and too fond of pleasure. HowcA^er, he was 
better than Margaret, and the people in London 
chose him to be king ; and so there were two kings 
in England for ten years : one, the King of the 
White Rose, that was Edward ; and one, the King 
of the Red Rose, that was poor Henry. 



122 EDWARD IV. OF YORK. Chap. XXXIIl. 

CHAPTER XXXIIl. 

EDWARD IV. of YORK. — 1461 to 1483. 

How the Yorkists beat Queen Margaret at Hexham ; how the 
Queen and Prince escaped to Flanders ; why the Earl of AVar- 
wick was called the King-maker ; how Prince Edward was 
murdered by King Edward's brothers ; how King Henry and 
the Duke of Clarence were put to death. 

IN those years, while there were two kings, nobody 
knew which king to obey. Few people minded 
the laws, and the armies of the Lancastrians and the 
Yorkists did a great deal of mischief in every part 
of the country'. A great many battles were fought, 
and many thousands of Englishmen were killed. 

After one of these battles, which was fought at 
Towton, in Yorksliire, King Henry was obliged to 
hide himself for a long time in Scotland, and the 
parts of England close to it. He sometimes slept 
in the woods, and sometimes in caves, and was near 
dying of hunger. 

At last Queen Margaret contrived to gather 
another army ; but the Yorkists beat her at Hex- 
ham, and King Henry was taken prisoner, and sent 
to tlie Tower. Queen Margaret and the young 
prince escaped into a wild forest. There they were 
met by some robbers, who took away the queen's 
necklace and her rings, and then began to quarrel 
about who should have the most. 

Queen Margaret took the opportunity of their 
quarrelling, and, holding her little sou by the hand, 
she began running through the forest, in hopes of 
meeting some of her friends ; but she onl}^ met with 
another robber. She was afraid he would kill her 
and the little prince, because they had nothing to 







Escape ol' t^iietu Mai'garet. 



Chap. XXXIII. EARL OF WAPWICK. 125 

give liim. Margaret then fell upon her kuees, and 
owned she was the queen, and begged the robber to 
protect his king's son. The robber was snrprised, 
indeed, to see the queen and prince by themseh'es, 
half-starved, and weary with running in that wild 
place. But he was a good-natured man, and took 
them under his care ; he got them some food, and 
took them to a cottage to rest ; after which he con- 
trived to take them safel}' to the seaside, where the}' 
got on board ship and went to Flanders. 

Now that King Henry was safe in tlie Tower of 
London, and Queen Margaret was gone abroad, 
everybody in England hoped there would be an end 
to the civil wars, and King Edward of York married 
a beautiful lady called Elizabeth Woodville, and he 
had manj- children, and there was nothing but feast- 
ing and rejoicing. 

But the king had two brothers, George Duke of 
Clarence, who was rather foolish, and Richard, who 
was young, brave, and clever, but deformed and 
wicked. The Duke of Clarence had married a 
daughter of the Earl of Warwick, who had been 
ver}' useful to the Yorkists. But he was vexed with 
the king for marrying without asking his advice, so 
he determined to begin the civil war again. 

This Earl of Warwick was a very brave man, but 
he was very changeable ; at one time he fought for 
Edward of York, at another for Margaret and Henry 
of Lancaster ; so, as he chose to call first one of 
them king, and then the other, he was nicknamed 
the King-maker. Once Warwick forced King 
Edward to flee from England, and put Henry on the 
throne again. But Edward came back, and War- 
wick was killed in a battle at Barnet, near London, 
and poor Henry was sent back to the Tower. 



126 EDWARD ir. OF YORE. Chap. XXXIII. 

About three weeks after that battle of Barnet, 
there was another at Tewkesbury, where Edward of 
York took Queen Margaret and her son Edward 
prisoners ; for they had come to England again, in 
hopes the Earl of Warwick would get the kingdom 
back for the Lancastrians. 

When they were brought before King Edward, 
he asked the bo}' how he dared to come to England. 
The brave lad answered, that he came to tr^- to get 
back his father's crown ; upon which Edward cruelly 
struck him on the face, and his brothers Clarence 
and Gloucester, and two other lords, stabbed the 
poor prince till he died. 

This was even more cruel than anything Margaret 
had ever done. 

That miserable queen was sent to prison in the 
Tower immediately afterwards, where her poor hus- 
band was a prisoner. But a very few days after 
the battle of Tewkesbury, Henry was found dead in 
his prison, and he was most likel}' murdered. The 
King of France paid Edward a large sum of money 
to set Queen Margaret free. 

Now, all Edward of York's enemies being either 
dead or overcome, he feasted and enjoyed himself, 
and was ver}' wicked and cruel. His foolish brother, 
the Duke of Clarence, quarrelled with the queen and 
her relations, and also with the Duke of Gloucester. 
So Edward had Clai-enee sent to the Tower, where 
he was put to death. Many people thought that the 
Duke of Gloucester murdered King Henry the Sixth, 
and caused the Duke of Clarence to be drowned in 
a cask of Malmsey wine ; but I am not sure of this. 

About four years after this. King Edward the 
Fourth died, and left two little sons and five 
daughters. 



Chap. XXXIV. EDWARD V. 127 

I can say very little good of him, except that he 
was brave and handsome, and good-humoured in 
eompan}' ; but then he was cruel and revengeful, 
and, when the wars were over, he loved his own 
pleasure and amusement too well to do anything 
good or useful for the people, and he did them 
umch wrono-. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

EDWARD V. — Only ten weeks of 1483. 

How Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was guardian to the young 
King Edward the Fifth ; how he put Lord Hastings to death, 
and made himself King ; and how the little King Edward and 
his brother were murdered in the Tower. 

WHEN Edward the Fourth died, his son Ed- 
ward, Prince of Wales, was only thirteen 
years old; and his younger son, Richard, Duke of 
York, only ten. 

The Prince of Wales was with some of his rela- 
tions at Ludlow, and the little duke with his mother 
in London. 

Their guardian was their uncle, Richard, Duke of 
Gloucester, whose wicked and cruel deeds you read 
about in the last chapter. 

Now the Duke of Gloucester, whom the people 
called Crook-back, because he was deformed, wished 
to be king himself ; but there were several noble- 
men who determined to try to prevent his depriving 
his little nephew of the kingdom ; and when the boy 
was brought to London, and lodged in the palace in 
the Tower, to keep him safe, as his uncle said, they 
tried to watch over him, and prevent any wrong 



128 EDWARD V. CH.A.P. XXXIV. 

from being done to him. But Riehiiid of Gloucester 
was too cunning and too cruel for them. He con- 
trived, in the first place, to get the little Duke of York- 
out of his mother's hands, and to lodge him in the 
Tower, as Avell as his brother. He next pretended 
tliat he wanted to talk with the little king's friends 
about the proper day for setting the crown on his 
head, and letting the people see him as their king. 
80 the lords who wished well to the young princes 
all came to the Tower, and were sitting together 
waiting for the Duke of Gloucester. 

At last he came, and said, very angrilj', that he 
had found out several persons who were making 
plans to put him to death, and had bribed some 
persons to poison him ; and then turning to Lord 
Hastings, who was one of j'oung Edward's best 
friends, asked him fiercely what the persons de- 
served who had done so? "They deserve severe 
punishment," said Lord Hastings, " if they have 
done so." — '"If! dost thou answer me withiFS?" 
roared out Gloucester ; " b}- St. Paul, I will not dine 
till thy head is off! " 

The moment he had said this he struck his hand 
upon the table, and some soldiers came into the 
room. He made a sign to them to take awa}' Lord 
Hastings, and they took him directly to the court 
before the Avindows. There they laid him down with 
his neck on a log of wood, and cut off his head, and 
the cruel Gloucester went to his dinner. 

After this, nobod}' was surprised to hear that 
Richard had put to death several more of the king's 
friends ; and that the next thing he did was to get 
the people to make him king, and to say that the 
young prince was not fit to be king. 

After this, he ordered both the princes to be 



Chap. XXXIV 



MURDER OF THE PRINCES. 



129 



murdered iu the Tower ; and I will tell 3011 how it 
was done. 

The governor of the Tower at tliat time was Sir 
Eobert Brackenbiuy, and Richard found that he was 
so honest, that while he was there he would not let 
anybody hurt the little princes, so that he sent away 
Brackenbur}- upon some business that was to take 
him two or three days, and gave the keys to a wicked 
servant of his own to keep till Brackenbury came 
back. The bad man's name was Tyrrell ; and he 
had no sooner got the charge of the little king and 
his brother, than he sent for two persons more wicked 




Death of tlip little rrinees in the Tower. 



even than himself, and promised them a great deal 
of money, if they would go into the children's room 
while they were asleep and murder them. 



130 RICHARD III. Chap. XXXV. 

These two men's names were Dighton and Forrest. 
The}- went into the room where the princes were 
botli on the same bed. Their little arms were round 
each other's necks, and their little cheeks close to- 
gether. Then the wicked murderers took some 
cushions, and laid them over the poor children as 
they lay asleep, and smothered them. 

Then they took them on their shoulders, and 
carried them to a little hack-staircase, near their 
room in the Tower, and buried them in a great hole 
under the stairs, and threw a heap of stones over 
them ; and a long time afterwards, some workmen, 
who were emplo_yed to repair that part of the Tower, 
found their bones in that place. 

And this was the end of our little King Edward 
the Fifth, and his brother York. 

You will read something about their sister Eliza- 
beth very soon. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

RICHARD III. — 1483 to 1485. 

How Richard the Third tried to make the people his friends ; 
how the Duke of Buckingham rebelled and was put to death ; 
how Richard was killed at Bosworth fighting against the Earl 
of Richmond, who was made King. 

RICHARD, Duke of Gloucester, had got him- 
self made king, as I told you, before he mur- 
dered his young nephews in the Tower. The people 
were told that the young princes had died suddenly' . 
He tried to make the people forget the wicked 
way in which he came to be king by making some 
good laws ; but he could not succeed. The English 



Chap. XXXV. THE EARL OF RICHMOND. 131 

could not love so base and cruel a man, and Richard 
had but a short and troublesome reign. 

The first vexation he had was caused I)}' a cousin 
of his, the Duke of Buckingham, almost as bad a 
man as himself, who had helped him in most of his 
bad deeds, but who did not mean to let him kill the 
little princes. So the Duke got an arm^^ together, 
and hoped by beginning a civil war to punish 
Richard ; but he was taken prisoner, and Richard 
treated him as he had done Lord Hastings, that is, 
he cut off his head directly. 

But there was another cousin of Richard's, and a 
much better man, about whom I must tell you a 
great deal more. His name was Henry Tudor, Earl 
of Richmond. Now his father, Edmund Tudor, 
Earl of Richmond, was related to the old princes of 
Wales, wlio you must remember were Britons, and 
his mother, the Countess of Richmond, was a lady 
of the family of Lancaster, or the Red Rose. 
Richard the Third hated the Earl of Richmond, be- 
cause he knew that many people thought Henry 
ought to be king, and he did everything he could to 
injure him and his family. But Richmond himself 
was abroad, where Richard could not hurt him. 

But after a little while Richmond wrote to his 
friends in England, that, if they would be ready to 
help him when he came, he would bring with liim 
from abroad money and men, and then England 
might get rid of the wicked King Richard of the 
White Rose, and take him instead for their king. 

The best gentlemen in England immediately got 
ready to receive Richmond ; all the relations of the 
persons Richard had put to death were glad to join 
with him to punish that bad man. The people in 
Wales were delighted to tliink of having one beldng- 



132 RICHARD in. Chap. XXXV. 

iug to their ancient princes to be their king, and, 
not long after Eichmoncl had landed at Milford 
Haven, he found several thousand men ready to 
follow him. 

Richard, who was brave, although be was cruel, 
got ready an army also to fight Richmond, and he 
met him at a place called Bosworth, in Leicestershire, 
where they fought a great battle. 

I have read that King Richard, when he was lying 
in his tent the night before the battle, could not 
help thinking of all the cruel things he had done. 
Besides those he had killed in battle, he remembered 
the 3'oung prince Edward of Lancaster, whom he 
stabbed at Tewkesbury-, and poor Henry the Sixth, 
whom he had murdered in prison, and his own 
brother Clarence, whom he had caused to be killed. 
Then he began to think of Lord Hastings, and all 
his friends, six or seven, I think, whom he had be- 
headed, and his little nephews, who were smothered 
in the Tower, and his cousin Buckingham, and, last 
of all, his wife. Queen Anne, whom he had used so 
ill that she died. 

And so when he got up in the morning he was 
tired and unhapp3% and did not fight so well as he 
might have done. 

However that might be, he vfas killed in the 
liattle of Bosworth Field. His crown was found 
upon the field of battle, and Lord Stanley put it 
upon the Earl of Richmond's head, upon which the 
whole arm}' shouted ' ' Long live King Henry the 
vSeventh ! " and so from that day the British prince, 
Hemy Tudor, Earl of Richmond, and heir of 
Lancaster, was king of England. 



Chap. XXXVI. HENRY VII. 133 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

HENRY VII. — 1485 to 1509. 

How Henry the Seventh united the parties of the White and the 
Red Roses ; how Lambert Simnel, and afterwards Perkin 
Warheck, rebelled against him, but were subdued ; how the 
people began to improve themselves in learning ; how America 
was discovered ; how King Henry did many useful things, but 
was not beloved by the people. 

WHEN the Earl of Richmond was made king, 
and was called Henry the Seventh, many per- 
.sons began to be afraid that the wars of the Roses 
would begin again. But Henry was a wise man, and 
he had made friends of the party of York, by promis- 
ing to marry his cousin Elizabeth, the sister of the 
little princes who were smothered in the Tower. So, 
as soon as he was crowned himself, and the people 
had owned him for their king, he married Elizabeth ; 
and as Henry was King of the Red Rose party, 
and she was Queen of the White Rose party, the 
people agreed better than they had done for more 
than thirty ^'ears, and England began to be quiet 
and happy. 

However, there were two disturbances in the be- 
ginning of Henry's reign that I must tell you of. 
There was a very good-looking young man, called 
Lambert Simnel, that some people thought was \Qvy 
like the Earl of Warwick, a son of that Duke of 
Clarence who was killed in the Tower ; and some 
persons, who wished to annoy Henry the Seventh, 
persuaded Lambert to say he was Warwick, and 
that he had run away from the Tower, and had 
hidden himself till after his uncle Richard's death ; 
but that now, as Richard and his little cousins were 
all dead, he had a right to be king. Some' few 



134 HENRY ril. — LAMBEUT KIMNEL. Chap. XXXVI. 

Euglishmen joined him, and a good man}' Irish. 
But in a battle at Stoke, in the Nortli of England, 
they were all driven away, and Lambert was taken 
prisoner. 




Marriage of King Henn ^ H and Elizabeth of 1 oik 



The king, wlio knew tlie poor yonng man had 
been forced to do what he did by other people, did 
not send him to prison, but made him a turnspit in 



Chap. XXXYI. PERKIN WARBECK. 135 

his kitchen ; and, as he behaved veiy well there, he 
afterwards gave him the care of his hawks. 

The second disturbance was of more consequence. 
A young man, called Perkin Warbeck, was taught 
by one of King Henry's enemies, the Duchess of 
Burgundy, to call himself Richard Duke of York. 

He said that he was the brother to the little king 
killed by Richard in the Tower, and that Dighton 
and Forrest could not bear to kill them both, and 
that he had hidden himself till he could get to the 
duchess, who, as he said, was his aunt. 

Now King Henry knew this stor}' was not true, 
yet it vexed him very much. For Perkin Warbeck 
prevailed on several noblemen in Ireland to take his 
part, and he went to Scotland, and got the king to 
believe him, and to let him marry a beautiful young 
lady, named Catharine Gordon, the king's own 
cousin, and to march into England with an army, 
where he did a great deal of mischief before King- 
Henry's army could drive him away. Then Perkin 
sailed to Cornwall, and collected a small army ; but 
after doing just enough mischief to make everybody 
fear Mm and his people, he was taken prisoner by 
King Henry, who kept him some time in the Tower : 
at last he was hanged at Tyburn, and nobody was 
sorry for him but his poor wife Lady Catharine. 

King Henr}' sent for that unfortunate lady, and 
took her to the queen, who treated her very kindly, 
and made her live with her, and did all she could to 
make her liappy again. 

England was quite quiet for the rest of King 
Henry's reign ; and Wales, which hadlieen ill-treated 
by the Kings of England ever since Edward the 
First conqueretl it, was better treated by Henry. 

As there was no fighting, the young men begab to 



130 HENRY VTT. — LEARNED MEN. Chap. XXXVT. 

try to improve themselves in learning. Some years 
before that time, some clever men in Germany had 
found out how to print books instead of copying 
them in writing, so there were a great many more 
books, and more people could learn to read. The 
young men in Cambridge and Oxford began to read 
the good books that had been forgotten in the wars 
of the Roses, and they were ashamed to find that 
there were not half a dozen men in England who 
knew anything at all about Greek. I think one of 
those few was Grocyn, a teacher at Oxford. 

But the English had soon a very good Greek 
teacher. A young man born at Canterbury, called 
Thomas Linacre, after learning all he could at the 
school in his own town, and at Oxford, went to travel 
in Italy, where the most learned men in the world 
lived at that time. These learned men soon found 
out that Thomas Linacre was very clever indeed, and 
so the}' helped him to learn everything that he de- 
sired, for the sake of improving his own countr}' 
when he came back. He studied everything so care- 
fully, that on his return to Oxford the greatest and 
wisest men went to him to be taught Greek, besides 
man}' other things he had learned in his travels. 
He was chosen to be tutor to the king's eldest son. 
Prince Arthur, and he was afterwards tutor to some 
of the next king's children. He was the greatest 
physician in England, and before he died he founded 
the same College of Ph3'sicians that we have now. 

In the next chapter we shall have a great deal to 
read about several of Linacre's scholar's ; but I tell 
you about him now that you may know that it was 
in this king's time that the gentlemen of England 
began to think of reading and studying, instead of 
doing nothing but fight. 



Chap. XXXVI. DISCOVERT OF AMERICA. 137 

About this time, sailors from Europe first found 
their wa}" to America. Christopher Colaml)us went 
from Spain, Americo Vespucci from Italy, and Sebas- 
tian Cabot from England. They all arrived safe at 
the other side of the wide ocean, and then it was first 
known for certain that there was such a place as 
America. How surprised all their friends must have 
been, when they came home, and told of the strange 
things they had seen ! The trees and the flowers 
were all different from ours. The birds were larger, 
and had more beautiful feathers ; the butterflies had 
gayer colours than we had ever seen. Then they 
brought home turkeys, which the}' found in the 
woods, and potatoes, which they had eaten for the 
first time, to plant in our fields and gardens. But I 
should fill a whole book if I tried to tell yon of all 
the things that were brought from the new countries 
found out in Henry the Seventh's time. 

We must now speak of the king himself. His 
wife, Elizabeth of York, was dead. She had four 
children, Arthur and Henr}', Mar}^ and Margaret. 
Mar}' became Queen of France, and Margaret Queen 
of Scotland. Arthur, who was the eldest, was good 
and clever, but very sickly, and he died before his 
father ; so Henry was the next king. 

Henry the Seventh was a very wise man, and a 
severe king. His greatest fault was loving money, 
so that he took unjust ways to get it from his sub- 
jects. He was very unwilling to spend anything 
upon himself or other people. Bnt yet he laid out a 
great deal of money in building a great palace at 
Richmond, and in adding a beautiful chapel to 
Westminster Abbey, and in other fine buildings. 
He sent to Italy for painters and sculptors, to make 
pictures and statues ; and he was fond of encourag- 
ing learnino- and trade. 



138 HENRY VITI. Chap. XXXVII. 

But though lie did iiijiuy good and useful things, 
nobody loved hini ; mid when he died there were 
very few persons indeed soi-ry for him. 



CHAPTER XXXVTI. 

HENRY VIII. — 1509 to 1547. 

How Henry the Eighth made war uijou Scotland and France, and 
gained tlie battle of Flodden and the battle of the Spurs ; how 
he met the King of France in tlie Field of the Cloth of Gold ; 
how Cardinal Wolsey fell into disgrace and died. 

I HAVE SO niau}^ things to tell you about Henry 
the Eighth, that I dare say I shall fill three 
chapters. 

When he first became king, everybody liked him. 
He was very handsome, and generous, and good- 
humoured. Besides all that, he was very clever, 
and very learned ; he liked the companj' of wise 
men, and treated them all yexy kindly. One of his 
great amusements after dinner was to invite the 
greatest scholars and the cleverest men, such as 
clergymen, lawyers, physicians, and painters, to go 
and talk with him. And so he learned a great deal 
from hearing what the}' said. 

But as Heur}' grew older, I am sorry to say that 
he changed very much, and became cruel and hard- 
hearted, as you will read by-aud-by. 

The wise old king, Hemy the Seventh, had been 
very careful to keep peace with the French and 
Scotch all his life, but the young king liked the 
thoughts of gaining a little glory by fighting ; so 
very soon after he became king, he had a war with 
France, and another wdth Scotland. 



Chap. XXXVII. BATTLE OF FLODDEN. 139 

The war with Scotland ended sadly for the Scotch. 
The English army was commanded by a very brave 
and clever nobleman, named the Earl of Surrey, and 
he had with him several In-ave lords and knights. 
The Scotch ai-my was almost all made up of the 
])oldest and best men in Scotland, with their own 
king, James the Fourth, to command them. The 
two armies met at a place called Flodden Field. 
They fought all daj' ; sometimes one side got the 
better and sometimes the other ; so when night 
came, nobod}' Ivuew which had beaten the other. 
But in the morning the Scots found that the}' had 
lost their king, whom they all loved very much, 
and that with him the best and bravest of the Scot- 
tish nobles had been killed. 

After this there was peace between Scotland and 
England. 

As to King Henrj'-'s war in France, it did not last 
very long. I told 3"ou Henr}- was young, and wished 
for the kind of glory that princes gain by fighting. 
But he forgot that, besides the glor}-, there must 
l)e a great deal of fatigue and suffering ; so, after 
one battle, he was persuaded to make peace. That 
one battle was called the battle of the spurs, be- 
cause the French made more use of tlieir spui's, to 
make their horses run away, than of their swords to 
fight with. 

Not long after this battle, the old French king- 
died. The new king was called Francis the First. 
He was almost as 3'oung as Henry the Eighth. He 
was handsome, too, and very fond of gaiety, and 
dancing, and riding, and feasting, and playing at 
fighting, which is called jousting. So tlie two young- 
kings agreed tliat tliev would meet together, and 
liave some merr}' days. And so they did. 



140 



HENRY nil. 



Chap. XXXVII. 



They met near a place called Ardres, in France. 
The richest noblemen, both of France and England, 
and their wives and daughters, were there. The tents 
they feasted in were made of silk, with gold flowers ; 




Henry VIII. embarking for France. 



their dresses were covered over with gold and jewels ; 
even their very horses were dressed up with silk and 
golden fringes ; and there was feasting, and dancing, 
and jousting, and music every day. 



Chap. XXXVII. FIELD OF THE CLGTII OF GOLD. 141 

The two kings amused themselves with daucing, 
and all sorts of games, till at last they found it was 
time to go home, and mind the atfairs of their own 
kingdoms. 

This meeting was called the field of the cloth 
OF GOLD, because there was so much gold in the 
dresses and tents, and the ornaments used by the 
kings and their lords and ladies. 

Besides the two kings who were at the Field of 
the Cloth of Gold, there was a great man there, whom 
you must know something about. His name was 
Wolse}'. He was a clergj'man, and in the time of 
King Henry the fSeventli he Avas known to be very 
clever indeed. But Henrj' the Eighth first made 
him a bishop, and then the Pope (who you know is 
the Bishop of Rome) gave him the rank of Cardinal. 

In those days a cardinal was thought to be almost 
as great a man as a Icing. He dressed in long fine 
sillv robes, trimmed with fur, and when he went out 
he wore a scarlet hat with a broad brim and fine red 
cords and tassels. 

This Cardinal Wolsey was very clever, as I told 
you, and very learned ; he was one of the scholars 
at Oxford when Tliomas Linacre taught Greek 
there ; and with a part of the great riches that he 
got from the king he built tlie great college, called 
Christ Church, at Oxford, and a school at Ipswich, 
the town where he was born. He also built the great 
palace of Hampton Court, and made a present of it 
to the king. And these 3'ou know were all useful 
things. 

But Cardinal Wolsey was proud towards the 
nobles, and had to tax the people heavily to pay for 
the king's wars ; so he was greatly disliked. And 
some persons told the king that the cardinal spoke 



142 HENRY Vin.— WOLSEY. Chap. XXX VIIL 

ill ol" him, and that he boasted ol" being richer and 
more powerfnl than the king. So Henry, who was 
very passionate, ordered all his riches to be taken 
away from him snddenl}', and sent for him to London, 
where I am almost sure he intended to order his head 
to be cut otf. But the cardinal fell ill and died on 
the road. His last words were — " If I had served 
God as diligently as I have served the king. He 
would not have given me over in my grey hairs." 
Now I must end this chapter. In the next I shall 
tell you about King Henry's six wives. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

HENRY VIII. — Continued. 

How King Henry married six times; and how he got rid of his 
wives when he was tired of them. 

HENRY the Eighth's jfirst wife was Catherine of 
Arragon. She was a princess from Spain, who 
came to England to be married to Prince Arthur, 
King Henrj^'s brother. But as 30U read in the 
chapter before the last, Prince Arthur died when 
he was very 3'oung ; and Catherine was married to 
Henry. 

They had only one daughter, the Princess Mary, 
who came to be Queen of England, as you will read. 
Now, though Henry was very fond of his wife for a 
great many ^ears, he grew tired of her at last, and 
wished very much to marry a beautiful 3'oung lady 
who lived with Queen Catherine. 

He determined to get some of those people who 
are always willing to do as their king pleases, in- 
stead of being honest and doing only what is right, 
to find out some excuses for sending away good 




Wolsey enteriug Leicester Abbey. 



Chap. XXXVIII. Aj:iNE BOLEYN. 145 

Queen Catlierine, for indeed she was very good, and 
loved the king very dearly. So at last they found 
some, which you could not understand if I told j'ou ; 
and they divorced Queen Catherine, that is, they 
sent her away from the king, and said he might 
marry anybod}^ else that he pleased. 

The good queen lived about three years after- 
wards, sometimes at Ampthill, sometimes at other 
country' places, and died at Kimbolton. 

The second wife of Henry was the beautiful 30ung 
lad}-, Anne Boleyn, whose daughter, Elizabeth, be- 
came Queen of England after her sister Mary. But 
now King Hemy, who had found out that he could 
make excuses for sending away one wife, began to 
wish for another change. 

I told you Anne Boleyn was young and beautiful. 
She was also clever and pleasant and I believe really 
good. But the king and some of his wicked friends 
pretended that she had done several bad things ; and, 
as Henry had become very cruel as well as change- 
able, he ordered poor Anne's head to be cut off. 

On the day she was to suffer death she sent to beg 
the king to be kind to her little daughter Elizabeth. 
She said to the last moment that she was innocent ; 
she prayed God to bless the king and the people, 
and then she knelt down, and her head was cut off. 

I ought to have told you, that, before she was 
brought out of her room to be beheaded, she said to 
the gentleman who went to call her, " I hear the 
executioner is very skilful ; my neck is very small ; " 
and she put her hands round it and smiled, and made 
read}^ to die. 

The cruel king married another very pretty 
young woman the very next daj'. Her name was 
Jane Seymour, and she had a sou, who was after- 



UG HENRY VIII. Chap. XXXVIII. 

wards King Edward the Sixth. She died twelve 
daj's after the little prince was born, or perhaps 
Hemy might have used her as ill as he did poor 
Anne Boleyn. 

The king's fourth wife was found for him by his 
minister, Thomas Cromwell. She was the Princess 
Anne of Cleves, a German lady. But Henry took 
a dislike to her looks, so he put her away as he did 
Queen Catherine, and gaA^e her a house to live in, 
and a good deal of money to spend, and thought no 
more about her. 

Next he married the Lady Catherine Howard ; 
but a ver^' few months afterwards he accused her of 
some bad actions ; and he had her beheaded. So 
he had put away two of his wives, he had cut off 
the heads of two others, and only one had died a 
natural death. 

Yet he found a lady, named Catherine Parr, who 
was a widow ; and she married him very willingly', 
for she was ready to run the risk for the sake of 
being a queen. She was ver^^ clever, and contrived 
to keep the passionate and cruel king in good humour 
till he died, when I dare say she was not sorry to 
find herself alive and safe, for he had once intended 
to put her to death like Anne Boleyn and Catherine 
Howard. 

Now we will end this chapter about Henry's 
wives. You will find that as he grew old he grew 
more and more passionate and cruel ; and in what I 
have to tell you about some other parts of his reign, 
in the next chapter, you will see that he grew wicked 
in almost everything. 



Chap. XXXIX. THE POPE AND THE FRIARS. 147 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

HENRY VIII.— Continued. 

How the Pope and the friars imposed upon the people ; how dis- 
putes arose in England about religion ; how King Henry seized 
the convents and turned out the monks and nuns; how he 
called himself Supreme Head of the Church, and jjut many 
people to death who did not agree with him in all things. 

IN several parts of our history we have read of the 
Pope, that is, the Bishop of Rome. When 
Thomas a Becket was murdered in the reign of 
Henry the Second, I told you it was done after a 
quarrel between the king and Thomas, because 
Thomas wanted the Pope to have the power to 
punish clergymen in England, or to let them go 
without punisliment, when they did wrong, without 
caring at all what the law of the country might be. 

Now more than three hundred years had passed, 
and the Popes still pretended to have great power. 
And a great many new kinds of clergymen, especially 
the FRIARS, had begun to go about the country, doing- 
nothing themselves, and pretending that the people 
ought to give them meat, and drink, and lodging, 
because they could read and say prayers. Besides 
that, they used to pretend to cure diseases, by making- 
people kiss old bones, orbits of rag, and other trash, 
which they said had once belonged to some holy 
person or another, which was as wicked as it was 
foolish. It was wicked to tell such lies. It was 
foolish, because the cures that God has appointed for 
diseases are only to be learned by care and patience, 
and have nothing to do with such things as old bones 
and rags. 

However, almost everybody believed these things 
for a long time. But at last, people began to read 



148 HENRY VIII.— LUTHER. Chap. XXXIX. 

more books, as I told you in the chapter about Henr^^ 
the Seventh ; and the}' learned how foolish it was to 
believe all the friars had said. 

One of the first books the}' began to read was the 
Bible, in which they found the commands of God ; 
and they saw that all men ought to obey the laws 
of the countries they live in. And they found that 
clergymen might marry, and that, though they ought 
to be paid for teaching the people, ihey had no 
business to live idle. 

It was not only in England that the people began 
to think of these things, but in other countries, 
especially in Germany, where a learned man, named 
Martin Luther, was the first who dared to tell the 
clergymen how ill he thought they behaved, and to 
try to persuade all kings and princes to forbid the 
Pope's messengers and priests to meddle with the 
proper laws of the country. There were many other 
things he found fault with very justly, which I can- 
not tell you now, as we must speak of what was 
done in England. 

You have not forgotten that I told you that gentle- 
men began to study a great deal in the reign of Henry 
the Seventh, and I promised to tell ^-ou something 
about Thomas Linacre's scholars. 

One of these was a gentleman of Rotterdam, in 
Holland, who came to England on purpose to learn 
Greek. His name was Erasmus, and he was famous 
for writing better Latin than anybody had done 
since the time of tlie old Romans. 

Another was Sir Thomas More, who was Lord 
Chancellor of England during part of Henry the 
Eighth's reign ; he was very learned and wise, and 
besides that, very good-humoured and cheerful. 

Erasmus and Sir Thomas More were very great 



Chap. XXXIX. ERASMUS — SIR T. MORE. 149 

friends, especiall3' when Sir Thomas was young ; 
and the}' used to write pleasant letters and books, 
to show how wrong those pei'sons were who believed 
in the foolish stories told b}' the friars, and how 
wicked man}' of the clergymen were, who lived idle 
lives, and passed their time in eating and drinking, 
and in doing man}- bad things, instead of teaching 
the people, as it was their duty to do. 

Besides these two great friends, there were several 
others, especially Tonstall and Latimer, who both 
were taught by Linacre, and are remembered to our 
time for being learned and good. 

By degrees, the English heard all that Martin 
Luther said in Germany about the Pope and his 
messengers, and the bad part of the clergymen ; and 
many dispntes arose among the people. Some said 
that we had no business to obey the Pope at all in 
anything, and that many of the things the clergy- 
men of Rome taught were wicked and false, and that 
God would punish those who believed them, now 
that they could read the Bible, and learn for them- 
selves what was right. 

Others said that those things were not false, and 
that we ought to believe them ; and as to the Pope, 
we ought to obey him in everything about our 
churches and our prayers, and the way of worship- 
ping God. 

But the thing that made the people, who took 
the opposite side in the dispute most angiy, was the 
quantity of land and money that the clergymen had 
persuaded different people to give them. Those 
who were against the Pope said that the clergymen 
had deceived tlie people and had pretended that they 
could prevail upon God to forgive their worst sins, 
if they would only give their lands and money to 



150 HENRY VIII. Chap. XXXIX. 

the churches and convents, that the monks and friars 
might live in idleness. 

The others, who were for the Pope, pretended 
that clergymen were better and wiser than others, 
and therefore they ought to live in comfort, and 
grandeur, and leisure, and to have more power and 
mone}' than other men. 

Now I believe the truth is, that in those days the 
clergymen were a great deal too rich and power- 
ful, and that they oppressed the people in every 
country, and that they tried to keep them from 
learning to read, that they might not find out the 
truth from the Bible and other good books. 

However, in England there were a great mau}^ 
good men on both sides. 

At first, the king took the part of the Pope, and 
as he was ver^- fond of showing his learning, he 
wrote a book to defend him against Martin Luther ; 
in return for which the Pope called Henry the 

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. 

But soon afterwards King Henry began to change 
his mind. He thought the English clergymen would 
be better governed if the King of England were at 
their head instead of the Pope. Then he thought 
that, if all the convents were pulled down, and the 
monks and nuns made to live like other people, 
instead of idly, without doing anything, he might 
take their lands and money and give to his servants, 
or spend himself, just as he liked. 

As soon as Henry thought of these things, he set 
about doing what he wished. He would not listen 
even to the old men and women, who had lived in 
the convents till they were too old to work ; he 
turned them all out. He would not listen to some 
good advice about leaving a few convents for those 



Chap. XXXIX. PROTESTANTS. 151 

who took care of the strnngers and sick people, but, 
like a cruel and passionate man as he was, he turned 
them all out : man}' of them actually died of hunger 
and distress, and many more ended their lives as 
beggars. 

Yet, although Henry was so cruel to the monks 
and priests, he would not allow the people to change 
many of the things that the followers of the Pope 
were most to blame for. He was glad enough to be 
master, or, as he called it, supreme head of the Eng- 
lish church and clergy, and to take the lands and 
money from the convents and abbeys. But he would 
not let everybody read the Bible, and would insist 
upon their worshipping God as he pleased, not in 
the wa}' they believed to be right. 

I have already told you that many very good men 
wished a great many changes to be made in the man- 
ner of worship, in teaching the people, and letting 
them read ; besides taking some of the lands and 
money of the convents, and forcing the clergymen 
to use the rest of their riches property. Besides, 
they wished the clergymen to be allowed to marr}'. 

The chief persons who wished for these changes 
were — Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury ; Latimer, 
Bishop of Worcester ; Shaxton, Bishop of Salisbury ; 
all very learned men ; and they had most of the 
gentlemen and many of the people with them. 

Those who followed after these wise men were 
called Protestants. 

But there were many great and good men who 
thought that the clergymen might alter some small 
things for the better, but they would not consent to 
pulling down the convents, nor taking their lands 
and mone}', nor to changing the wa^' of worshipping 
God, nor to the king's being at the head of the 



152 HENRY VIII. Chap. XXXIX. 

Church of England, instead of the Pope. These men 
were called Papists. 

At the head of them were — Sir Thomas More ; 
Tonstall, Bishop of Durham ; Warham, Archbishop 
of Canterbury ; and most of the lords in the kingdom. 

Now King Henry, although he chose to change 
the way of worship a little, and liked very well, as 
I said before, to get all the lands and money into 
his hands, still wanted to go on with some of the 
worst customs of the old clergymen, and, according 
• to his cruel temper, he made some very hard laws, 
and threatened to burn people alive who would not 
believe what he believed, and worship God in the 
way he chose. 

Man}' people, who could hardly understand what 
the king meant, were really- burnt alive, according to 
that wicked law : but the thing that showed Henry's 
badness more than any other, was his ordering Sir 
Thomas More's head to be cut off, because he would 
not do as the king wished, nor say what he did not 
think was true. But I will write a chapter about 
that good man on purpose, after we have done with 
this wicked King Henr3\ 

Besides putting Sir Thomas More to death, the 
king cut off" the heads of Bishop Fisher, the Marquis 
of Exeter, Lord Montague, Sir Edward Nevil, and, 
most shocking of all, the head of an old lady with 
grey hairs, named Margaret Plantagenet, only be- 
cause her son, Reginald Pole, afterwards called 
Cardinal Pole, would not come to England when 
Henr}' invited him. 

I dare say you are tired of reading of so much 
wickedness. I am sure I am tired of writing it, and 
I will only mention one thing more. A few da3^s 
before Henry died he ordered the Earl of Surrey's 
head to be cut off. 



Chap. XL. STR THOMAS MORE. 153 

This Earl of Surrey was the most polite and 
pleasant, and clever 3'oung gentleman in England. 
But Henr}^ was afraid that he would give trouble to 
his little son after his death. He was also going to 
cut off the head of Surrey's father, the old Duke of 
Norfolk, but the king died that night, before that 
was to have been done, and so the Duke was saved. 
I do not believe that there was one person in Eng- 
land who could be sorry when Henry died. Even 
now, whenever his name is mentioned, we think of 
everj'thing that is wicked. 



CHAPTER XL. 

How Sir Thomas More studied law, and became an orator ; the 
wise and good men who visited him ; how he was for some 
time in the King's favor, but was afterwards imprisoned and 
put to deatli because he would not do everything the King 
wished. 

WELL, my dear little Arthur, we have done 
with the cruel King Henry the Eighth, and I 
am going to keep my promise, and write a little 
chapter about Sir Thomas More. 

We read in the chapter about Henry the Seventh, 
that in his reign the young gentlemen of England 
began to study and read, and even to write books, 
instead of spending all their time in fighting or 
hunting. And I told you that Thomas Linacre, 
the great physician, taught a great man}^ gentlemen 
at Oxford to read and write Greek, and that Sir 
Thomas More was one of his scholars. 

Sir Thomas More's father wished him to be a 
laAV3'er, and, though lie did not like it himself, he 
left his other learning and studied law to please his 
father, and he became a great lawyer. 



154 HENRY VIII. Chap. XL. 

He was handsome and good-natured, very cheer- 
ful, and fond of laughing. He had a pleasant voice, 
and it is said that he was the first Englishman who 
could be called an orator, that is, a man who can 
speak well before a great number of others (as a 
clergyman does when he preaches in a large church) , 
and either teach them or persuade them to think or 
do as he wishes. 

But what you will like best to hear is, how good 
he was to his little son and his daughters : he used 
to laugh with them and talk with them, and as he 
had a pretty garden round his house at Chelsea, he 
used to walk and play with them there. 

Besides this, he was so kind to them, that he had 
the best masters in England to teach them different 
languages, and music ; and the}' used to have very 
pleasant concerts, when his wife and daughters used 
to play on different instruments, and sing to him. 
He was ver}- fond of painting, and had the famous 
painter, Hans Holbein, iu his house a long time. 

Sometimes he and his children read pleasant books 
together, and he was particularly careful to instruct 
his little girls, and the}' read and wrote Latin very 
well, besides being very good workwomen with their 
needles, and understanding how to take care of a 
house. 

You ma}' think what a happy family this was, 
and how much all the children and the parents 
loved one another. All the best men that were 
then alive used to come now and then and see Sir 
Thomas More and famil3^ There was the famous 
Erasmus, whom I mentioned before ; and Bishop 
Tonstall, who often contrived to save people from 
the cruel Henry, when he had ordered them to be 
burnt ; and Dean Colet, who began that good school 



Chap. XL. SIR THOMAS MORE IJV PRISON. 155 

at St. Paul's in Loudon, for bo3's whose parents 
were too poor to have them properlj^ taught. You 
ma}' think how happy Sir Thomas More was at 
Chelsea, loving his wife and children, who were all 
good, and most of them clever, and seeing his good 
and wise friends every day. 

But you know that Grod gives men duties to do for 
the country they live in, as well as for themselves ; 
and as Sir Thomas More was a lawyer, he was 
obliged to attend to his business, and when he be- 
came a judge, it took up so much of his time that he 
could not be so much at his house at Chelsea as he 
wished. It was still worse when Henry the Eighth 
made him Lord Chancellor of England, and required 
most of his spare time to talk with him, instead of 
letting him go home. 

For some time King Henry liked him very much, 
and everybody was in hopes that he might make the 
king a better man. 

But Henry was too bad and too cruel to take 
advice. The first dislike he showed to Sir Thomas 
More was because that honest man did not wish him 
to send away his good wife, Catherine of Arragon, 
and marry another woman while she was alive. 
Afterwards he was angry with him because he would 
not leave off thinking that the Pope was head of the 
Christian Church, and say what Henry pleased, 
though he tried every means to persuade him to 
do so. 

At last the king sent him to prison on that ac- 
count, and kept him there a whole year, and sent all 
sorts of people to him, to try and get him to say the 
king was in the right, whatever he might sa}' or do, 
and particularly that it was right for him to be called 
the Supreme Head of the Church of England. 



156 HEN BY VIII. Chap. XL. 

But More would not tell a lie. He knew his duty 
to God required him to speak the truth ; and as he 
thought the king wrong, he said so boldly. This so 
enraged the cruel tyrant, that he determined to put 
him to death ; but he made believe to be sorr}^, and 
said he should have a fair trial, and sent for hira 
out of prison, and made a number of noblemen and 
gentlemen ask him the same things over again that 
he had been asked in prison before. And as he still 
gave the same answers, the king ordered his head to 
be cut off. 

In all the whole j^ear he had been in prison he had 
only been allowed to see his wife once ; and his 
eldest daughter Margaret, who was married to a Mr, 
Roper, once also. The cruel king now ordered that 
he should be kept in prison, without seeing any of 
his family' again before his death ; but Margaret 
Roper waited in the street, and knelt down near 
where he must pass, that he might give her his 
blessing. Then she determined to try to kiss her 
own dear father before he died ; so, without minding 
the soldiers who were carrying him to prison, or the 
crowd which were standing round, she ran past them 
all and caught her father in her arms, and kissed 
him over and over again, and cried so bitterly that 
even the soldiers could not help crying too. 

The only thing More begged of the king on the 
day he was beheaded was, that his dear daughter 
might be allowed to go to his funeral ; and he felt 
happy when the}' told him all his family might go. 

After Sir Tliomas More's head was cut off, the 
cruel king ordered it to be stuck up on a pole on 
London bridge ; but Margaret Roper soon contrived 
to get it down. She kept it carefully till she died, 
and then it was buried with her. 



Chap. XLI. EDWARD VI. 157 

As long as there are any good people in the 
world, Sir Thomas More and his daughter will be 
loved whenever their names are heard. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

EDWARD VI. — 1547 to 1553. 

How Edward the Sixth was taught to be a Protestant ; how the 
Protector Somerset went to war in Scotland ; how he caused 
his brother to be beheaded, and was afterwards beheaded him- 
self ; how the Duke of Northumberland persuaded the King 
to leave the kingdom to Lady Jane Grey. 

TTTHEN King Henry the Eighth died, his only 
VV son, who was but nine years old, was made 
king under the name of Edward the Sixth. 

Of course the little prince could not do much of a 
king's proper business himself ; but his guardians, 
and especially his mother's brother, managed the 
kingdom tolerably well for him at first. 

The little boy was very gentle and fond of learn- 
ing. He was serious and clever too : he wrote down 
in a book every day what he had been about, and 
seemed to wish to do what was right ; so the people 
thought they might have a reall}' good king. 

I told you, when I mentioned the alteration in 
religion in Henr^' the Eighth's reign, that though 
nearl}' all the nobles continued Papists, yet many of 
the gentlemen and the people were Protestants. Now 
King P^dward's uncles and teachers were Protestants, 
and they taught the young king to be one also, and 
laws were made by which all tlie peoi^le in England 
were ordered to be Protestants too. 

The Bible was allowed to be read by everybody 
who chose it, in English, and the clergymen were 



158 EDWARD VI. Chap. XLI. 

ordei'ed to say the prayers iu English instead of 
Latin, which very few could understand. The king 
was declared to be tlie head of the Church ; clergy- 
men were allowed to many ; and those persons 
whom Henry the Eighth had put in prison were set 
free. 

These things were not only good for the people 
then, but they have been of use ever since. As the 
English clergymen, and schools, and colleges, have 
had no foreign Pope to interfere with them, they 
have been able to teach such things as are good and 
useful to England. Clergymen who are married, 
and have families living in the country among the 
farmers and cottagers, may set good examples and 
teach useful things, by the help of their wives and 
children, wliich the clergy who were not married 
could never do. 

And as for reading the Bible, and saying prayers 
in English, it must be better for us all to learn our 
duties, and speak of our wants to God, in the lan- 
guage we understand best. 

For these reasons the reign of Edward the Sixth 
is always reckoned a very good one for England. 

There were, however, some very wrong things 
done in it, and some unhappy ones, owing to the 
king's being so very young. 

I told 3^ou he was onh' nine 3'ears old when he 
came to be king. Those in whose care his father 
had placed him and the kingdom, allowed one of the 
king's uncles, the Duke of Somerset, to become his 
chief guardian and adviser, and he is always called 
the Lord Protector Somerset. 

A quarrel which Henry the Eighth had begun with 
Scotland was carried on by Somerset, who went 
himself to Scotland with an arm}', and beat the Scots 



Chap.XLI. the protector SOMERh>ET. 159 

at the battle of Pinkie ; but the war did no good, 
and was not even honourable to England. Somer- 
set offered to make peace if the (Scottish lords would 
allow their 3'oung Queen Mary to marry our young 
King Edward, when the children were old enough, 
and then England and Scotland might have been 
one kingdom from that time. 

I should tell you that the last king of Scotland, 
James the Fifth, was dead, and that his widow was 
a French lad\', and ruled the kingdom, with the help 
of the Scottish nobles, for her little daughter, who 
was five years old. She and the nobles at that time 
were Papists, and would not allow Marj' to marry 
the Protestant King Edward of England, but sent 
her to France, where she married a French prince, 
and was Queen of France for a little while. 

When the Protector Somerset came back from 
Scotland, the great Lords at first seemed glad to see 
him ; but by degrees they made the young king- 
think very ill of him. Besides, many hated Somer- 
set for his pride. He pulled down several churches 
and bishops' palaces, to make room for his own 
palace in the Strand. The great building that now 
stands in the same place is still called Somerset House. 

I am sorry to tell you that one of the Protector's 
enemies was his own brother, Lord Seymour of 
Sudely, a very brave but bad man, who was the 
High Admiral of England. 

Now the Admiral wished to be the king's guar- 
dian instead of Somerset ; and he was trying to do 
this by force. So he was seized and tried ; and his 
own brother, the Protector, signed the order for him 
to be beheaded. 

Somerset did this to save his own life ; but soon 
after this his enemies grew too strong for him, and 



160 



EJ)WAKD VI. 



Chap. XLI. 



Lord Warwick, who liad become the chief ruler, got 
tlie king to sign an order to behead Somerset. 

Although he was a king, the poor boy must have 
been verj- unhappy. He had been persuaded to 




The Protector Somerset accusing his Brother heiore King 
Edward VI. 

order his own two nncles to be beheaded ; and 
although he had two sisters, he could not make 
friends with them, because they were brought up to 
think all he did was wrong. 



Chap. XLI. EXECUTION OF SOMERSET. IGl 

The eldest was the daughter of Henry the Eighth's 
first wife, Catherine of Arragon. She was twenty- 
one j-ears older than the king, and she was a Papist, 
and hated all the Protestants, and the king most 
of all. 

The king's second sister was the daughter of poor 
Queen Anne Bolej'n, Her name was Elizabeth ; she 
was a Protestant, and was 0UI3' four j-ears older 
than her brother, who loved her, and used to call 
her his "sweet sister Temperance." 

He had one cousin, whom he saw often, and who 
was very beautiful and good, and loved learning ; 
her name was Lady Jane Grey. I shall have a good 
deal to tell you about her, and how she used to read 
and learn as well as the little king. 

But I must now tell you what happened when the 
Protector was beheaded. Although he had offended 
the great lords, and they had persuaded the king 
that he deserved to die, the people loved him. He 
had alwaj's been kind to them, and the laws made 
while he was Protector were all good for England. 
On the day when his head was cut off on Tower-Hill 
— it was early in the morning — a great many people 
were collected to see him die. Suddenly one of the 
king's messengers rode up to the scaffold where 
Somerset stood read}' for the executioner ; the peo- 
ple hoped the king had sent a pardon for his uncle, 
and shouted out, " A pardon ! a pardon ! God save 
the king ! " But it was not true ; there was no par- 
don. Somerset was a little moved when the people 
shouted, but soon became quite quiet. He spoke 
kindly and thankfully to some of his friends who 
were shedding tears near him, and then laid his 
head upon the block, and was beheaded. 

After this time tue Earl of Warwick managed the 



162 EDWARD ri. Chap. XLl, 

countr}'' for the king. But the poor yonug prince 
did not live long. Soon after his uncle's death he 
began to cough and look very ill, and everybody 
saw that he was likel}' to die. 

Now the person who was to reign over England 
after Edward's death was his eldest sister, the 
Princess Mar}', and, as I told you, she was a Papist, 
or, as we now call it, a Roman Catholic. 

The Earl of Warwick, who had been made Duke 
of Northumberland, had a son named Lord Guild- 
ford Dudley, who married the king's good and 
beautiful cousin, Lady Jane Grey. These 3'oung 
people were both Protestants, and Northumberland 
hoped that the people would like to have Lady Jane 
for their queen, in case the 3'oung king should die, 
better than the Roman Catholic Princess Mary ; and 
then he thought that, as he was the father of Jane's 
husband, he might rule the kingdom in her name, 
and get all the power for himself. 

Poor King Edward now grew weaker and weaker : 
he was taken to Greenwich for change of air, and 
seemed at first a little better, so that the people, 
who really loved their gentle and sweet-tempered 
young king, began to hope he might live. 

But Northumberland knew that Edward was 
dying, and he never left him, that he might persuade 
him to make a will, leaving the kingdom to his dear 
cousin, Lad}' Jane Grey, after his death. 

This was ver}' wrong, because the king is only 
placed at the head of the kingdom, to do justice and 
to exercise mercy. He cannot buy or sell the king- 
dom, or an}' part of it. He cannot change the 
owner of the smallest bit of land without the authoi'- 
ity of the whole parliament, made up of the king 
himself, and the lords and gentlemen of the commons 



Chap. XLII. DEATH OF EDWARD VI. IfiS 

along with him. Of course, therefore, Northumber- 
lund wtis wrong, in persuading the young king to 
make such a will without tlie advice of parliament. 
You will read presently how Northumberland was 
punished. 

Soon after this will was made poor Edward the 
Sixth died. He was not quite sixteen years old. He 
was so mild and gentle, that ever3'body loved him. 
He took such pains to learn, and do what was right, 
that the people were in hopes of having a really good 
and wise king. But it pleased God that he should 
die. His last pra3er as he lay a dying was, ' ' O Lord, 
save thy chosen people of England. Defend this realm 
from papistr}', and maintain thy true religion." 



CHAPTER XLII. 

THE STORY OF LADY JANE GREY. 

How Lady Jane Grey was called Queeu for ten days, and was 
afterwards imprisoned ; how she was fond of learning ; how 
she was persuaded to become Queen against her will ;■ and how 
she and her husband were put to death by Queen Mary. 

TWO da3's after King Edward died, Northumber- 
land had Lady Jane Grey proclaimed, or called 
queen in London. 

On the same day the Lady Mary's friends had her 
proclaimed at Norwich. 

Some people would have liked Lady Jane best, 
first, because their dear young King Edward had 
wished her to be queen ; and next, because she was 
beautiful, virtuous, and wise, and, above all, a Pro- 
testant. But then they feared and hated her father- 
in-law, Northumljerland. The}' remembered that he 
had persuaded King Edward to order the Protector 



164 LADY JANE GREY. Chap. XLII. 

Somerset to be beheaded. They knew that he was 
cruel, aud jealous, and revengeful ; they thought 
that he only pretended to be a Protestant, and 
because he was such a bad man, they were afraid to 
let his sou's wife be queen. 

One by one all Northumberland's friends left him 
aud joined the Lad}* Mary, who was the rightful 
queen ; and after Lady Jane Grey had been called 
queen for ten da3-s, she went to her private home at 
Sion House, a great deal happier than the day when 
the}' took her away to make her a queen. 

It would have been well if Queen Mary had left 
her cousin there. But she was of a cruel and 
revengeful temper, aud not content with sending 
Northumberland to prison in the Tower of London, 
for setting up her cousin as queen, she sent Lad}' 
Jane and her husband, Lord Guildford Dudley, also 
to the Tower. 

But I must tell you a great deal more about Lady 
Jane Grey, aud I will begin her stor}' at the time 
when she was very young indeed. 

As she was onl}^ a few months older than her 
cousin Edward the Sixth, she had the same teachers 
in everything, and she was like him in gentleness, 
goodness, and kindness. Her masters found that 
she was still cleverer than the little king, aud that 
she learned Latin and Greek too more readily than 
he did. She knew French, aud Spanish, and Italian 
perfectly, and loved music and painting. She used 
to thank God that she had strict parents aud a kind 
and gentle schoolmaster. 

She was married when very j^oung to Lord Guild- 
ford Dudley, ouly a few weeks before King Edward 
died ; and she was very sorrj? when she found out 
that her husband wanted to be king. 



Chap. XLII. 



LADY JANE GREY. 



165 



Wlieu King Pxlwaixl died, luady Jane's father, the 
Duke of Suffolk, and her husband's father, the Duke 
of Northumberland, went to Lady Jane, and fell 
upon their knees before her, and offered her the 
crown of England, at the same time telling" her that 
her cousin the king, whom she loved ver^' much, 




Lady Jane Grey lefusing the ( low ii. 

was dead. On hearing this she fainted, and then 
refused the crown, saying, that while the ladies 
Mary and IClizabeth were alive, nobody else could 
have a right to it. 

At last, however, though the two dukes could not 
prevail upon her to allow herself to be called Queen 
of England, her husband and her mother begged 
her so hard to be (|^ueen, that she consented. 



166 LADY JANE GREY. Chap. XLII, 

I have already told you that she was ouly called 
queen for ten days, and that Queen Mary sent her 
and her husband to the Tower. 

They were not allowed to see one another in then- 
prison. However, as they were not beheaded imme- 
diately, people hoped that Mary would spare them. 
But she was too cruel. After she had kept them 
closely shut up for nearly eight months, she ordered 
both their heads to be cut off. Dudley was to be 
executed on Tower-Hill, in sight of all the people ; 
Lady Jane in a court within the Tower, with onl3- a 
few persons round her. 

When Lady Jane knew this, she had no wish to 
do anything but prepare for her own deatli next 
da}'. She wrote a letter to her father, to take leave 
of him, in which she said, " My guiltless blood may 
cry before the Lord, mercy to the innocent ! " She 
left her Greek Testament to her sister Catherine, 
with a Greek letter written on a blank leaf in it. 

Early in the morning of the 12th da}' of February 
Lady Jane stood by the iron-barred window of her 
prison, and saw her dear husband led through the 
Tower gate to be beheaded. Not long afterwards 
she was praying near the same spot, and saw a 
common cart coming from the gate, and in it her 
husband's body, all covered with blood. 

When she was taken from prison to be beheaded, 
she spoke kindl}' and gentl}' to everybody near her. 
As Sir John Brydges, the keeper of the Tower, led 
her from her room to the scaffold, he asked her for 
a keepsake, and she gave him a little book, in which 
she had written three sentences, one in Greek, one 
in Latin, and one in English. 

She spoke to the officers and servants before she 
was beheaded, saying that she had never intended 



Chap. XLIII. HER EXEVUTION. 167 

to do wrong, that she only obeyed her parents in 
being queen, and that she trusted to be forgiven. 

Her maidens then took off some part of her dress ; 
she knelt down and laid her head upon the block, 
and her beautiful head was cut off before she was 
seventeen years old. 

The people now were sorry they had allowed Mary 
to be queen, for they thought that if she could order 
these two good and innocent young people to be put 
to death she would not spare anybody whom she 
might happen to hate. And so it proved, as you 
will read in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

MARY. — 1553 to 1558. 

How Sir Thomas AVyat rebelled against Queen Mary, but was 
overcome, and he and many others were put to death ; how 
she offended the people by marrying the King of Spain ; and 
how a great many people were burnt for being Protestants. 

MARY, the daughter of Henry the Eighth, and 
of Catherine of Arragon, his first wife, was 
so cruel that she is always called Bloody Mary. 

She was at Hunsdon when her brother died ; but 
instead of going directly to London to be made 
queen, she went first to Norwich, for fear of the 
Duke of Northumberland, and afterwards to London, 
as you read in the last chapter. 

One of the veiy first things she did was to order 
the heads of the Duke of Northumberland and 
several other gentlemen to be cut oti". She then 
offended the people by forbidding them to say their 
public prayers or to read the Bilile iu English : she 
ordered all the clergymen to send away their wives, 



168 MARY. Chap. XLIII. 

and she determiued to restore the Roman Catholic 
worship again. 

Man}' now began to be sorr^' that Mary was 
queen, and a number of people collected under the 
command of Sir Tliomas Wyat and the Duke of 
Suffolk, to try to drive Mary out, and release Lady 
Jane, for this was before she was put to death. 
At one time Mary was in great danger, but Wyat's 
men fell away from him, and he was taken and put 
to death. 

The hard-hearted queen determiued to be revenged 
on those who had been with Sir Thomas AVyat. 
Besides beheading Lady Jane, as I have told 3'ou, 
she ordered the heads of the Duke of Suffolk and of 
man}' more gentlemen to be cut off, and stuck up 
the heads on poles all about the streets. She had 
fifty-two gentlemen hanged, all on the same day, 
and the people called the da}' Black Monday. She 
soon sent to fetch her sister Elizabeth from her 
house at Ashbridge, and on her coming to London 
sent her to the Tower. For two months Elizabeth 
was kept close in prison, whilst her enemies strove 
hard to have her beheaded. At last her friends pre- 
vailed, and she went to live at Hatfield. 

The next thing Mary did to offend the people of 
England was to marry the Spanish prince, who was 
soon after Philip the Second, King of Spain. He 
was as ill-tempered and as cruel as the queen, and 
encouraged her in hating the Protestants, and in 
trying to make all the English people Roman 
Catholics again. 

The queen's cousin, Cardinal Pole, was soon sent 
from Rome by the Pope. And one day Queen Mary 
and King Philip, with the nobles and commons, knelt 
before the Cardinal, and confessed the wicliedness of 



Chap. XLIII. HER CRUELTY. 169 

England in casting oft" the power of the Pope. So 
the Cardinal forgave them, and received England 
back to the Romish Church. 

The persons who helped Mary most in her cruelty 
were Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and Bishop 
Bonuer. These two men were the most cruel I ever 
heard of, and determined to burn everybody who 
would not agree with the queen in her religion. 

The first person Gardiner ordered to be burnt 
alive was one of the clergymen belonging to the 
great church of St. Paul in London ; his name was 
Rogers. That good man would not do what he 
thought wrong towards God to please either Gardiner 
or the queen, so the}' sent him to the great square 
called Sraithfield, and there had him tied to a stake, 
and a fire lighted all around him, so as to kill him. 
As he was going along to be burnt, his wife and 
his ten little children met him, and kissed him, 
and took leave of him, for Gardiner would not let 
them go to him while he kept him in prison before 
his death. 

The next was Dr. Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester. 
He died saying prayers, and preaching to the people 
round about him, and thanking God for giving him 
strength to speak the truth, and keep His command- 
ments. 

Altogether, there were nearl}^ three hundred men 
and women burnt by Queen Marj^'s orders ; but I 
will onl}' tell you the names of three more, for I hate 
to write about such wicked doings. 

You remember I mentioned Bishop Latimer among 
the good men who were Protestants. He had come 
to be a ver}'^ old man in Mary's reign ; but she would 
not spare him, but sent him with another bishop, a 
friend of his, as good and learned as himself, named 



170 THE PROTESTANT MARTYRS. Chap. XLIII. 

Ridley, to Oxford, where they were burued together, 
only because the}' were Protestants. 

At last Mary determined to order the death of the 
wise and good Archbishop Cranuier. He liad always 
been very gentle and rather fearful, and he wrote to 
Mary, and tried by every means to get her to allow 
him to live. They made him hope to be spared if 
he would give up his religion, and promise to be 
a Papist. As soon as he had been so weak as to do 
this, she ordered him to be burned at Oxford. When 
he was taken to be tied to the stake, he stretched out 
his right hand that it might burn first, because it 
had written through fear what he did not mean. He 
took off all his clothes but his shirt, and with a very 
cheerful countenance he began to praise God aloud, 
and to pray for pardon for the faults he might have 
committed during a long life. His patience in bear- 
ing the torment of burning, and his courage in dj'ing, 
made all the people love him as much as it made them 
hate the queen and Bonner. 

Nothing did well in this cruel queen's reign. She 
went to war with France to please her husband the 
king of Spain, and in that war the French took 
Calais from the English, who had kept it ever since 
Edward the Third's reign. i 

Queen Mary died the same year in which she lost 
Calais, after being queen only five 3'ears. 

1 Little Arthur should look back, and read the story of the 
taking of Calais, aud of the good Eustace de St. Pierre. 



Chap. XLIV. ELIZABETH. 171 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

ELIZABETH. — 1558 to 1603. 

Hbw Qvieen Elizabeth allowed the people to be Protestants ; how 
they learned many useful things from foreigners who had 
been persecuted in their own country ; how Mary Queen of 
Scots was driven from her kingdom, and was imprisoned, and 
at last beheaded by Elizabeth. 

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S reign was so very long, 
and there are so many things in it to tell you 
about, that I am sure we must have three chapters 
about her, and 3'ou will find both good and bad in 
them ; but after all you will think that her being 
queen was a very good thing for England. 

When Queen Mary died, Elizabeth was at Hatfield, 
where she stayed a little while, till some of the great 
and wise men belonging to the countr}' went to her 
to advise her what she had best do for the good of 
P^ngland, and how she should begin. At the end of 
a week she went to London. 

She was twenty-five years old, and very pleasant 
looking. She was a good scholar in Latin, Greek, 
Italian, and some other languages ; but she loved 
English above all. 

The first thing Elizabeth and her wise counsellors 
did was to set free all the poor Protestants whom 
Queen Mary and Bishop Bonner had put in prison, 
and intended to burn. Then she allowed the Bible 
and prayers to be read in English. 

When Elizabeth rode through London to be 
crowned in Westminster Abbey, the citizens made 
all sorts of fine shows to do honour to a queen who 
had alread}' been so good to the poor Protestants. 
They hung beautiful silks and satins out at the 



172 ELIZABETH. Chap. XLIV. 

windows like flags ; they built flue wooden arches 
across the streets, which they dressed up with 
branches of trees and flowers ; and just as the queen 
was riding under one of them, a boy beautifully 
dressed was let down by cords from the top, who 
gave the queen a beautiful Bible^ and then he was 
drawn up again. Elisabeth took the Bible and 
kissed it, and pressed it to her bosom, and said it 
was a present she liked best of all the fine things 
the people had given her that dixy. 

Afterwards she appointed Protestant bishops, and 
made a very good and learned man, named Matthew 
Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury. 

Queen Elizabeth did not find it \Qvy easy to undo 
all the mischief that Queen Mar}' had done ; but at 
last, with the help of her good counsellors, England 
was at peace, and the people were settled, some on 
their lands, where they were beginning to sow more 
corn and make more gardens than they had done 
before, and some in different trades ; for the English 
learned to make a great many things at this time 
from strangers that came to live here. 

I will tell you why the}- came. That cruel Philip 
the Second, King of Spain, who had been married to 
Queen Mary, was King over Flanders and Holland, 
as well as Spain. A great many of the people in 
those countries were Protestants : but Philip wanted 
to make them Papists by force, and would have 
burnt them as Queen Mary did the Protestants in 
England. But the}' got away from him, and, hear- 
ing that Queen Elizabeth was a friend to the Prot- 
estants, they came here. And as some of them 
were spinners and weavers, and others dyers, and so 
on, they began to work at their trades, and taught 
them to the English. Since that time we have 



Chap. XLIV. iMARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. 173 

always been able to make woollen and linen cloths 
ourselves. 

So 3'ou see that King Philip, by being cruel, 
drove away useful people from his country, and 
Queen Elizabeth, by being kind and just, got 
those useful people to do good to our own dear 
Kngland. 

I must tell you a sad story of the worst thing 
that happened in Queen Elizabeth's time, in this 
chapter, because it has a great deal to do with the 
Protestants and Papists. 

In the chapter about Edward the Sixth you read 
that there was a beautiful young Queen of Scotland, 
and that the English wished King Edward to marr^^ 
her ; but that she went to France, and married the 
young French king instead. 

She was so very young when she first went, that 
her husband's mother kept her to teach along with 
her own little girls till she was old enough to be 
married ; and I am sorry to say that she taught her 
to be cunning, and deceitful, and cruel. 

Her name was Mary, and she was the most 
l)eautif ul 3'oung queen in the world ; and the old 
French queen, whose name was Catherine, taught 
her to love dress, and shows, and dancing, more 
than anything, although she was so clever that she 
might have learned all the good things that the 
beautiful Lady Jane Grey had learned. 

The 3'oung King of France died very soon, and 
then Marj', who is alwaj's called Queen of Scots, 
went home to Scotland. If she had been wise, she 
might have done as much good as her cousin Queen 
Elizabeth did in England. 

But she had been too long living in gaiety and 
amusement in France, to know what was best for 



174 ELIZABETH. Chap. XLIV. 

her people ; and instead of listening to wise coun- 
sellors, as Elizabeth did, slie would take advice from 
nobody but Frenchmen, or others who would dance 
and sing instead of minding serious things. 

When she went away from Scotland all the people 
were Papists ; but long before she got back, not 
only the people, but most of the great lords, were 
Protestants ; and Mary was very much vexed, and 
tried to make them all turn Papists again. 

At last, there was a civil war in Scotland, be- 
tween the Papists and Protestants, which did much 
mischief: at the end of it, the Protestants promised 
Mar}' to let her be a Papist and have Papist 
clergymen for herself and the lords and ladies 
belonging to her house ; and she promised that her 
children should be brought up as Protestants, and 
that the people should be allowed to worship God in 
the way they liked best. 

Just before this war Mar}' had married her cousin, 
Henry Stuart, called Lord Darnle}', who was very 
handsome ; and she liked him ver}' much indeed for 
a little time, and they had a son called James. But 
soon afterwards Mary was ver}- much offended with 
Darnle}', and showed great favour to Lord Bothwell. 
Not long afterwards Lord Bothwell murdered 
Darnley at the ver}- time when Mar}'' was giving 
a ball in her palace and was dancing merrily ; and 
most people then thought that Mary had planned 
the wicked deed with Bothwell that she might be 
able to marry him. 

And it turned out just as everybody expected ; 
so you cannot wonder that most of those who were 
good were very angry indeed when they found that 
she chose to marry that wicked man three months 
after he had killed her poor husband. 



Chap. XLIV. MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. 175 

Then there was another civil war, and Mary was 
put into prison in Loeh-Leven Castle, which stands 
on a little island in the middle of a lake. However, 
b}' the help of one of her friends she got out, and 
once more got her Papist advisers round her, who 
tried to make her queen agaiu. 

But the Scots would not allow it, and they made 
her little infant James their king, and made the 
lords Murra}' and Morton, and some others, guar- 
dians for the little king and the kingdom. 

It would have been well for Queen Mary if she 
would have lived in Scotland quietly, and taken 
care of her little son herself. But her bad husband, 
Bothwell, had run awa}" to save his own life, and 
Mary Queen of Scots chose to come to England, in 
hopes that Queen Elizabeth, her cousin, would help 
her to get the kingdom of Scotland again. 

I cannot tell you all the things that happened to 
Mary Queen of Scots in England. But I must sa}^ 
that I wish she had never come. She first of all 
seemed to want to make friends with Elizabeth, but 
all the time she was sending letters to the kings of 
France and Spain, to ask them to help her to get 
not only vScotland, but England for herself, and she 
promised one of the great English lords she would 
marry him, and make him king, if he would help 
her too. 

She also sent to get the Pope's help, and promised 
that all the people in England and Scotland too 
should be Papists, and obey the Pope again, and 
send him a great deal of money every year, if she 
could only kill or drive aAvay Queen Elizabeth. 

Now, Elizabeth's faithful friends and wise counsel- 
lors found out all these letters to the Pope and the 
kings of France and Spain, and they were so afraid 



17G EXECUTION OF MARY. Chap. XLIV. 

lest any harm should happen to their good, useful 
Queen Elizabeth, that the}' kept Mary Queen of 
Scots in prison, sometimes in one great castle, some- 
times in another. 

They allowed her to walk, and ride, and to have 
her ladies and other friends with her, and man}'^ 
people visited her at first. But when it was known 
that she really wished to make the English all 
Papists again, she was not allowed to see so many 
people. 

At last — I could almost cry when I tell you of it 
— the beautiful, and clever, and very unhappj' 
Queen of Scots was ordered to be beheaded ! She 
was in prison at Fotheringay Castle Avhen Queen 
Elizabeth's cruel order to cut off her head was sent 
to her. The next day her steward and her ladies 
led her into the great hall of the castle, which was 
hung all round witli black cloth. In the middle of 
the hall there was a place raised above the floor, 
also covered with black. There her maids took off 
her veil, and she knelt down and laid her beautiful 
head on the block. It was cut off, and her servants 
took it and her body to bury. 

Mary had done man}' wicked things : she had 
tried to do much mischief in England. But as she 
was not born in England, but was the queen of 
another countr}', neither Elizabeth nor her counsel- 
lors had any business either to keep her in prison, 
or to put her to death. They ought to have sent 
her, at the very first, safel}^ to some other country, 
if the}" were really afraid she would do mischief in 
England. 

This is a very bad thing : and I cannot make any 
excuse for Elizabeth. I will only say that her old 
counsellors were so afraid lest Mary should prevail 



Chap. XLV. FLIZAIlETn REFUSES TO AfARRY. Ill 

on the kings of France and Spain to help her to Ivill 
Elizabeth, and make the English all Papists again, 
that they wished Elizabeth to have ordered Mary's 
head to be taken oil" long before she really did so. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

ELIZABETH. — Continued. 

How Queen Elizabeth refused to marry ; how the ships and the 
sailors were improved in her reign ; how some great admirals 
made many voyages and discoveries ; how the King of Spain 
sent a great fleet and army to conquer England, but could not 
succeed ; and how the English did much harm to Spain. 

IT is qnite pleasant, my little friend, to have to 
write a chapter for 3'ou, where I can tell you of 
all things going well for England, that dear country 
where God allows us to live, which he has given 
us to love, and to do all we can for. 

When first Elizabeth became queen, her counsel- 
lors and the Parliament, and the people, all asked 
her to marr}', and promised to receive kindly any- 
bod}' she should choose. And the King of Spain 
asked her to marry him, but she told him she would 
not marry him, because he had been her sister's hus- 
band ; and she did not believe the Pope had power 
to allow her to marry one who had been her sister's 
husband. Then the old Queen of France, Catherine 
of Medicis, Avho had taught poor IMary Queen of 
Scots to be so foolish and cruel, wanted (Jueen Eliz- 
abeth to marry one of her sons. But Elizabeth did 
not like them any better than she did Philip, yet 
more than once she pretended she was going to 
marry one of them, for she wanted to be; friends 
with Franci'. and so make England strong and able 
to tight successfully against Spain. Tlien sonu' of 



178 ELIZABETH. Chap. XLV. 

the great Euglish lords wanted to marry her. But 
she kuew that if she married one of them the others 
would lie jealous, and, may be, would make a civil 
war in England ; so she thanked the coiinsellors, and 
the Parliament, and the people, for their kindness, 
but said she would rather live single, as she had 
quite enough to do to govern the kingdom well, 
without being troubled with manying. And sh(> 
kept her word, and never married, and is always 
called the Maiden Queen. 

I told 3'ou long ago, that the first great sea-fight 
in which the English beat the French was in the 
reign of Edward the Third. Since that time the 
English ships had been very much improved ; in- 
stead of only one mast, the largest had three, and 
instead of stones for the sailors to throw at one 
another, there were large and small guns to fight 
with. Then the sailors were as much improved as 
the ships. Instead of only sailing along b3' the 
land, and only going to sea in good weather, the}^ 
made long voyages. 

You know, in the reign of Queen Eliza'beth's 
grandfather, I told 3'ou that soitie bold sailors had 
sailed as far as America. Now Queen Elizabeth, 
who knew very well that the kings of France and 
Spain wanted to make war upon England, and drive 
her away, and oppress the Protestants, thought, like 
wise King Alfred, that the best waj^ to defend Eng- 
land was to have plenty of ships and good seamen, 
and brave admirals and captains to command them ; 
and so meet her enemies on the sea, and keep them 
from ever landing in England. 

I must tell you something about one or two of 
Queen Elizabeth's great admirals. 

Sir Francis Drake, the first man who ever sailed 



Chap. XLV. HIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 179 

his ship round the whole world, was born in Devon- 
shire, and went to sea at flrst with some other brave 
gentlemen, to carry on a war against some towns 
which the Spaniards had built in South America. 
This was ver^' wrong, because private persons have 
no business to make war, and take towns, and make 
prisoners of the townspeople. Such things should 
only be done when there is a lawful war between 
two countries. Then, indeed, every man must do 
his duty, and fight as well as he can for his own 
country and king. If private gentlemen were to go 
and take towns belonging to other countries, now, they 
would be called pirates, and they would be hanged. 

However, as Sir Francis Drake grew older, he 
left off making private war, became one of the 
queen's best admirals, and you will read more about 
him near the end of this chapter. 

"When he made his grand voyage round the world, 
he sailed alwa3's from the East to the West. He 
first went round Cape Horn, at the very South end 
of South America, where he saw great islands of ice 
as high as a large hill, and penguins and albatrosses 
swimming about them. Then he sailed to the Spice 
Islands, where he saw cloves and nutmegs grow, 
and birds of Paradise flying about in the air, and 
peacocks in the fields, and monkeys skipping from 
tree to tree in the woods. Then he passed by tlie 
Cape of Good Hope, which is in the South part of 
Africa, where all the beautiful gerauiums and heaths 
come from. 

Queen Elizabeth spoke to him kindl}' when he set 
out, and when he came back, after being three years 
at sea, she went and dined with hhn on board his 
own ship, and saw all the l)eautilul and curious 
things he had brought home with liini. 



180 ELIZABETH. Chap. XLV. 

Another great Admiral was Sir Martin Frobisher, 
who had been to the furthest parts of North Amer- 
ica, and first saw all the land al^out Hudson's Ba}', 
and those countries to the south of that bay, whei'e 
the English not long afterwards built towns, and 
settled a great many free states, that 3-ou will read a 
great deal about some day. 

In many things, the next admiral I will tell you 
about was a greater man than an}' of the rest. His 
name was Sir Walter Raleigh ; he was both a sailor 
and a soldier : sometimes he commanded a ship, and 
sometimes he fought along with the army on shore. 

The first time the queen took notice of him was 
one da}' that she was walking in London, and came 
to a splashy place just as Sir Walter was going by. 
As she was thinking how she could best step thy^ugh 
the mud, vSir Walter took off a nice new cloak that 
he had on, and spread it on the dirt, so that the 
queen might walk over without wetting her shoes. 
She was ver}^ much pleased, and desired him to go 
to see her at her palace ; and as she found that he 
was very clever and very brave, she made him one 
of her chief admirals. 

Queen Elizabeth used to behave to her brave 
admirals and generals, and her wise counsellors, ^nd 
even to her great merchants, like a friend. She 
visited them in their houses, and talked to them 
cheerfully of her affairs. She took notice of even 
tlie poorest people, and she used to walk and ride 
about, so that all her subjects knew her and loved 
her. And now I am going to tell you a part of her 
histor}', which will show you how happy it was for 
her and for England that the people did love their 
good queen. 

The King of Spain had never loved Elizabeth ; and 



Chap. XLV. THE SrANISH ARMADA. 181 

he hated P^ngland, because the people were Protest- 
ants : and I am sure you remember how cruel he 
and his Avife Queen Mary were to the English. 

He made war against England, and thought that 
if he could land a great ai'my on the coast, he might 
conquer all the country and drive away Elizabeth, 
and make the English all Papists again. He hoped 
this would be easy, because he was the richest king- 
in the world, and had more ships and sailors and 
soldiers than any other. And he began to build 
more ships and to collect more sailors and soldiers ; 
and he made so sure he should conquer England, 
that I have heard he even had chains put on board 
the ships, to chain the English admirals when his 
people should take them. 

This fleet, that King Philip made ready to conquer 
England, was the largest that any king had ever sent 
to sea, and he called it the "Invincible Armada,"^ 
because, he said, nobody could conquer it. 

But Queen Elizabeth heard in time that Philip 
was making ready this great navy, to bring as great 
an army to attack England. She immediately told 
the Parliament and people of her danger. She rode 
out herself to see her soldiers and her ships, and she 
said she trusted herself entirel}^ to her good people. 
The people soon showed her they might be trusted : 
they came willingly to be sailors and soldiers ; and 
the great lords gave money to pay the soldiers ; 
and many gentlemen built ships, and bought guns, 
and gave them to the queen. And she had soon a 
good fleet. It was not so large as King Philip's 
indeed, and the ships were quite small compared with 
his ; but the sailors belonging to it remembered that 
the}" were to fight for their own dear England, and 
for a queen whom the}' loved. 

1 Armada is the Spauish word for Navy. 



Chap. XLV. 



THE SPANISH ARMADA. 



183 



The chief adiuir;tl was Lord Howard of Efflugham ; 
uuder him were Lord Seymour, Sir Francis Drake, 
Sir John Hawkins, Sir Martin Frobisher, Sir AV alter 
Raleigli, and several other lords and gentlemen. 




Queen Elizabeth reviewing liei- army at Tilbury. 

The queen got herself ready to march to whatever 
place the Spaniards might land at. She had a good 
army a little way from London, at Tilbury Fort, 



l.S-i ELIZABETH. Chap. XLV. 

and she went tliore on horseback, and spoke to the 
soldiers, to give them courage. 

Oil, how anxious everyl)ody in England was, when 
the news came that the great Aimada was at sea, 
and sailing very near them ! but it pleased God to 
save p]nglaud. Soon after the Spanish fleet set sail 
a great storm arose, and man}' of the ships were 
so damaged that they could not come to England 
at all. 

When the others did come, Queen Elizabeth's fleet 
sailed out and followed them for a week up the 
English Channel, fighting and beating them all the 
wa}'. At last, in the Straits of Dover, the English 
admirals sent fire ships into the middle of the 
Armada, and the Spaniards sailed away in a fright ; 
and not one ship got to England to land Spanish 
soldiers. Twelve of them were taken or destroyed ; 
and another storm, greater than the first, sank a 
great many and wrecked others, so that of all Philip's 
great fleet and army, only one-third could get back 
to Spain ; and they were so tired and so hurt that 
he never could get them together again to attack 
England. 

Philip must have been very sorry that he began 
to make war against England, for the war lasted as 
long as he lived, andever}^ year the English admirals 
used to take a good many of his ships ; and one year 
Lord Essex, who was a great favorite of Queen 
Elizabeth's, landed in Spam, and took Cadiz, one of 
Philip's best towns, and burnt a great many ships 
that were in its harbour. 



Chap. XLVI. STATE OF IRELAND. 18;> 

chaptp:r XLAa. 

ELIZABETH. — Continued. 

How Ireland was in an evil condition from the conqnest ; how 
Elizabeth tried to improve it by sendina; it wise governors ; 
how the Earl of Desmond's and the Earl of Tyrone's rebellions 
were subdned ; how the Earl of Essex behaved ill, and was 
put to death ; and how Sir Philip Sidney was killed in battle. 

IT is a long time since I mentioned Ireland to you. 
You know that in the reign of King Henry the 
Second the English took a great part of it, and drove 
the old Irish away to the west side of the island. 

Now the English, who settled in Ireland at that 
time, soon grew more like Irish than Englishmen, 
and they were as ready to quarrel with any new 
English that went to settle there as the old Irish 
had been to quarrel with them ; so poor Ireland had 
never been quiet. The different lords of the new 
Irish, and the kings of the old were always fighting, 
and then they sent to England sometimes to ask for 
help, and often to complain of one another. Then 
the kings of England used to send soldiers, with 
private captains, who very often fought whoever 
they met, instead of helping one side or the other ; 
and these soldiers generally treated the unhapp}'^ 
Irish as ill as the Danes used to treat the English. 

In Queen Elizabeth's time the miserable people in 
Ireland were never a da}' without some sad quai-rel 
or fight iu which luany of them Avere killed ; and 
though Ireland is a good country for corn and cattle, 
and all things useful, 3-et there was nothing to be 
had there but oatmeal ; the people lived like wild 
savages, and even a good many of the English that 
had settled there wore the coarse Irish dress, used 
bows and arrows, and let their hair grow filthy and 



18(i ELIZABETH. CHjiP. XLVI. 

mfittecl, more like the wild old Britons you read of 
in the first chapter, than like Christian gentlemen. 

Ireland was strangely divided then ; there was 
the part where the old Irish lived in huts among bogs 
and mountains ; then the part with a few old castles 
that the first English settlers had built; and then 
that where fresh captains, who had come from time 
to time, had fixed themselves in forts and towns ; 
and all these three parts were constantl}' at war. 

Elizabeth, when she found how very ill Ireland 
was governed, wished to make it a little more like 
England, and to try to bring the people to live in 
peace. She sent a wise Governor there, called Sir 
Henry Sydney, and then another called Arthur Lord 
Grey de Wilton ; but all that these good men could 
do was to keep the new English a little in order, 
and to try to do justice to the other people. B}- the 
queen's orders they set up schools, and a college in 
Dublin, in hopes that the 3'oung Irishmen would 
learn to become more like the men of other countries. 

But the bad way of governing Ireland had gone 
on too long to allow it to be changed all at once ; 
and Elizabeth found she must send an army there to 
keep the differeut English and Irish chiefs in order, 
if she wished to have peace in the country. 

Now these chiefs were all Roman Catholics, for I 
believe there were no Protestants in Ireland but the 
ver}' newest of the English ; and when the King of 
Spain made war against Queen Elizabeth, he sent 
some Spanish soldiers to Ireland to help the Irish 
chiefs to make war upon the English. 

The story of these wars is long and very sad, and 
belongs rightly to the history of Ireland ; but I 
must tell you what happened to one or two of the 
chief men of Ireland at this time. 



Chap. XLYI. STATE OF IRELAND. 187 

The Earl of Desmond was one who joined the 
King of Spain's people, and when Lord Grey drove 
the Spaniards out of Ireland, Desmond tried to hide 
himself among tlie woods and bogs in the wildest 
part of the country. But the English soldiers 
hunted him from place to place, so that he had no 
rest. One night he and his wife had just gone to 
bed in a house close by the side of a river ; the 
English soldiers came, and the old Lord and Lady 
Desmond had just time to get up and run into the 
water, in which they stood up to tlieir necks, till the 
English were gone. At last some soldiers, who 
were seeking for them, saw a ver}^ old man sitting 
by himself in a poor hut ; they found out it was the 
Earl of Desmond, and the}' cut off his head directly, 
and sent it to queen Elizabeth. 

But the most famous Irishman at this time was 
Hugh O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone. His uncle, Shane 
O'Neil, tried to make himself King of Ulster, and 
hated the English so that he killed some of his 
own family because they wanted to teach the Irish 
to eat bread like the English, instead of oat cakes. 

This Hugh, Earl of Tj'rone, had a large army of 
Irish, and fought all the queen's officers for many 
3^ears, though she sent many of the best and bravest 
there. Sir Henry Bagenal was one, and her greatest 
favourite, the Earl of Essex, was another. Two or 
three times, when Tyrone was near being conquered, 
he pretended to submit, and promised that if tlie 
queen would forgive him, he would keep his Irisli 
friends quiet. He broke his word, however, and' 
kept a civil war up in Ireland till very near the 
queen's death, when, after being almost starved for 
want of food in the bogs near his own home, he 
made peace in earnest, and Ireland was quiet toy a 
few years. 



188 ELIZABETH. Chap. XLVI. 

We are come now to tlic end of Queen Elizabeth's 
long find famous reign. She died when she had 
been queen forty-five years, and was very un- 
happy at her death. Her favourite Lord Essex be- 
haved so ill after he came from Ireland, that the 
queen's counsellors ordered him to be put to death. 
Now, the queen had once given him a ring, when he 
was her greatest favourite, and told him, that if he 
would send it to her whenever he was in danger, 
she would save his life and forgive any of his faults. 
She thought he would send this ring to her, when 
he knew he was condemned to have his head cut 
off ; and so he did ; but a cruel woman to whom he 
trusted it, to give the queen, never did so till long- 
after Essex was dead ; and then Elizabeth, who was 
old and ill herself, was so vexed, that she hardly 
ever spoke to anybody again, and died in a few days 
afterwards at Richmond. 

It would make our little history too long, if I tried 
to tell 3'ou of all the wise and good things done by 
Elizabeth, or if I told you the names of half the 
famous men who lived in her time. 

Besides Essex, there was her other favourite, 
Leicester, a clever bad man. 

Her god-son, Harrington, belonged to the learned 
men and poets of her time ; but neither he nor any 
of the rest, though there were many, were to be 
compared to Shakespeare, whose pla3's everybody 
reads and loves, nor even to Spenser, who lived and 
died in Elizabeth's reign. 

Then there wei'e her wise counsellors Sir Nicholas 
Bacon, Lord Burleigh, and Walsingham, and all the 
generals and admirals I have told you about. I 
must just mention one more, because you will wish 
to be like him when you grow up. He was Sir 



Chap. XLVII. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. 189 

Philip Sidney, the best and wisest, and most learned, 
and bravest. He was killed in battle. When he 
was lying on the ground, A'ery liot and thirst}', and 
bleeding to death, a friend was bringing him a cup 
of water ; but he happened to look round, and saw 
a poor d^'ing soldier who had no friends near him, 
looking eagerly towards the cup. Sir Philip did not 
touch it, but sent to be given to that soldier, who 
blessed him as he was dying. And that act of self- 
denial and mercy makes all who hear the name ot 
Philip Sidue}' bless him even now. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

JAMES I. — 1603 to 1625. 

How the King of Scotland became King of England also ; how he 
and the Queen behaved very unwisely ; how he ill-treated the 
Papists and the Puritans ; how the Papists intended to destroy 
the King and the Parliament, but were prevented ; how Prince 
Charles and the Duke of Buckingham visited France and 
Spain ; how King James did many foolish things, and left his 
subjects discontented. 

JAMES STUART, the first King James of Eng- 
land, but the sixth of Scotland, was one of the 
most foolish and the most mischievous kings we ever 
had in England. He was the son of the unhappy 
Mary Queen of Scots, and after she was put in 
prison the first time, the Scotch lords made James 
king, though he was quite an infant. The lords gave 
him the best masters they could find to teach him, 
and he learned wliat was in books very well, but 
nobody could ever teach him how to behave wisely. 
Wlien Queen P^lizaboth died, James, king of Scot- 
land, became king of England, because he was 
Elizabeth's cousin, and from that time p]nafhind and 



190 JAMES I. Chap. XLVII. 

Scotland have been under one king, and are called 
Great Britain. 

As soon as James lieard the queen was dead, he 
set out from Scotland to come to London ; for as 
Scotland was then a very poor country, he and a 
great number of Scotchmen who came with him 
thought they had nothing to do but to come to Eng- 
land, and get all the nione}' they could by all sorts 
of ways. Then he made so many lords and kniglits 
that people began to laugh at him and his new 
nobles. But, worst of all, he fancied that parlia- 
ments had no business to prevent kings from doing- 
whatever they pleased, and taking money from their 
subjects whenever they liked. 

You may think how vexed the English were when 
they found that the}' had a king so unfit for them, 
after their wise Queen Elizabeth. 

The queen of James wag Anne, the daughter of 
the King of Denmark. She was very extravagant, 
and loved feasts and balls, and acted plaj-s herself, 
and filled the court with rioting, instead of the lad}'- 
like music and dancing, aud poetry and needlework, 
that Queen Elizabeth and her ladies loved. 

Instead of riding about among the people, and 
depending on their love and good will, James was 
always hiding himself; the oul}^ thing he seemed to 
love was hunting, aud for tlie sake of that he neg- 
lected his people aud his business. 

The favourites he had w^ere far from being useful, 
or wise, or brave. He chose them for their good 
looks and rosy cheeks, without inquiring anj'thing 
about their behaviour. 

He dealt severely with the Roman Catholics, whom 
he put in prison, and from whom he took a great 
deal of mone3^ Then he disliked those Protestants 



Chap. XLVII. GUNPOWDER PLOT. 191 

who did not wish to have bishops as well as parish 
clergymen, and who are mostly' called Presbyterians ; 
but some were then named Puritans, and he would 
not let them alter the Prayer-book. 

The Roman Catholics being tired of the ill usage 
they got from King James, some of them thought 
that, if they could kill him, they might take one of 
his young children to bring up themselves, and have 
a Roman Catholic king or queen, and get all Eng- 
land and Scotland for themselves. They thought 
besides, that the}' had better kill all the lords and 
all the gentlemen of the House of Commons too, and 
so get rid of the whole Protestant parliament. 

Fi'om thinking wickedly thej^ went on to do 
wickedl}'. The}' found there were some cellars 
under the houses of parliament, and \h&y filled these 
cellars with gunpowder ; and as they expected the 
parliament would meet in the house all together, 
with the king, on the fifth day of November, they 
hired a man called Gwy Fawkes to set fire to the 
gunpowder, and so to blow it up, and kill everybod}^ 
there at once. 

Now, it happened that one of the lords, whose 
name was Mounteagle, had a friend among the Roman 
Catholics, and that friend wrote him a letter, with- 
out signing his name, to beg him not to go to the 
parliament that day, for that a sudden blow would 
be struck which would destro}' them all. Loi-d 
Mouuteagle took this letter to the king's council. 
Some of the councillors laughed at it, and said it 
was onl}- sent to frighten Lord Mounteagle. But the 
king took it, and after thinking a little, he said, 
the sudden l)low must mean something to be done 
with gunpoAvder, and he set people to watch who 
went in and out of tlie vaults under tlie parliament- 



192 JAMES I. CILA.P. xuvn. 

house ; till at last, on the veiy night beibre the 
Roman Catholics hoped to kill the king and all 
those belonging to parliament, they caught Guy 
Fawkes with his dark lantern, waiting till the time 
should come for him to set fire to the gunpowder. 

The king was very proud of having found out 
what the letter meant, and used to boast of it as long- 
as he lived ; but the ti'uth is that the king's clever 
minister, Sir Robert Cecil, had found out all about the- 
plot, and managed to let James have all the credit. 

So far I have onh' told you of the foolish beha- 
viour of King James. I must now write about his 
mischievous actions. 

His eldest sou, Prince Henry, died ver}' 3'oung ; 
he was a sensible lad, and the people were sorr}- 
when he died, especially as his brother Charles was 
a sickly little bo}'. 

Now, little Charles was a clever child, and had 
very good dispositions ; and if he had been properl}' 
brought up, he would have been a good king, and a 
happ}' man. Instead of that, you will read that he 
was a bad king, and I daresay you will cry when 
3'ou find how very unhappy he was at last. 

James taught him that no power on earth had 
any right to find fault with the king, that the king's 
power was given to him by God, and that it was a 
great sin to say that anything the king did was 
wrong. Thus he taught him to think that the people 
were made for nothing but to obey kings, and to 
labour and get money for kings to spend as the}" 
pleased, and that even the nobles were nothing but 
servants for kings ; in short, he filled his poor little 
son's mind with wrong thoughts, and never taught 
him that it was a king's duty to do all the good he 
could, and to set an example of what is right. 



Chap. XLA^II. 



JAMES I. 



193 



Yet Charles bad many good qualities, as you will 
read by-and-b^'. He was a good scholar, and loved 
books and clever men, and music, and pictures ; and 
if he had only been taught his duty as a king pro- 




King James I. with Steeiiie and Baby Charles. 
perly, he would have done a great deal of good to 
England. 

I liave told you that James iised to make favour- 
ites of peopk', without caring nuich about their 



194 JAMES I. Chap. XLVII. 

goodness. One of his greatest favourites was George 
Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and he gave his son 
Charles to the Duke to take care of, just when he 
was grown up. The silly king used to call Bucking- 
ham, Steenie, and the prince, Baby Charles, although 
he was almost as big and as old as a man. 

When the prince was old enough to be married, 
his father wished him to marry the Infanta of Spain. 
(In Spain the princes are called Infants, and the 
princesses Infantas.) Now the Duke of Buckingham 
wanted very much to go abroad, and show himself 
to all the princes and nobles in France and Spain, 
for he was very vain of his beauty and his fine 
clothes ; so he put it into the prince's head, to tell 
his father he would not marry, unless he would let 
him go to Spain with the Duke of Buckingham, and 
see the Infanta before he married her. 

The poor foolish king began crying like a child, 
and liegged his dear Steenie and Baby Charles not 
to go and leave him ; but they laughed at him, and 
went and borrowed all his fine diamonds and pearls, 
to wear in their hats and round their necks, and 
took all the money they could get, and set off to go 
to Spain. They called themselves John Smith and 
Thomas Smitli, and first they went to France. 

Prince Charles found the ladies in the French 
court very pleasant and entertaining. It is true that 
several of them were not very good, but then they 
amused Charles, and he was particularly pleased 
with the Princess Henrietta Maria, who was pretty 
and merry, and appeared to like Charles very much. 

They quickly pursued their journey through France 
to go to Spain, and when Charles and Buckingham 
first got there everything seemed very pleasant. 
The Infanta was liandsome, but very different from 



Chap. XLVII. GENERAL DISCONTENT. 195 

Henrietta Maria, for she was vary grave and steady, 
and seemed as if she would be a fit wife for the 
prince, who was naturally grave and steady too. 

But the Duke of Buckingham quarrelled with some 
of the great men of the court, and was so much 
affronted at not being treated rather like a king than 
only a plain English nobleman, that he made the 
prince believe that the King of Spain meant to offend 
him, and did not really intend his daughter to marr}^ 
him ; and, in short, he contrived to make Charles so 
angry, that he left Spain in a rage, and afterwards 
married that very French princess, Henrietta Maria, 
whom he had seen at Paris, 

The bad education King James gave his son 
Charles, though it was the most mischievous of all 
his bad acts, was not the only one. 

The King of Spain had taken a dislike to Sir 
Walter Raleigh, who had been so great a favourite 
of Queen Elizabeth, because Raleigh had beaten his 
sailors at sea, and his soldiers ashore. But Sir 
Walter's men happened to kill some Spaniards when 
they were looking for a gold mine in South America ; 
so the King of Spain demanded that James should 
put Raleigh to death, and James shamefully yielded 
to Spain, and ordered that great and wise man's 
head to be cut off". 

As to Scotland, King James's own country, he be- 
haved as ill in all things belonging to it as he did 
in England. But the thing that turned out worst 
for the country and his poor son Charles was his 
insisting on the Scotch people kneeling at the com- 
munion, keeping certain holy days, and having bish- 
ops, although the Scotch religion is presbyterian. 
This vexed the Scotch people very much indeed. 
And the Irish were not better pleased, because the 



196 CHARLES I. Chap. XLVIII. 

Roman Catholics were ill-treated b}^ James, and 
most of the Irish were Roman Catholics. 

When James died, all the three kingdoms of Eng- 
land, Scotland, and Ireland were discontented. 
Poor Ireland was even worse off than ever. Scot- 
land had been neglected, and the people affronted 
about their religion ; and, in England, James had 
taken money unlawfully, and behaved so ill, both to 
parliament and people, that everybod}- disliked him 
as a king, and he was so sill}^ in his private behaviour, 
that everybody laughed at him as a gentleman. 

In short, I can praise him for nothing but a little 
book-learning ; but as he made no good use of it, he 
might as well have been without it. He reigned 
twentj^-two years in England, during which there 
was no great war. But James had begun one 
against the Emperor of German}^ and the King of 
Spain, just before his death. 

I must tell you of one very great man who lived 
in his reign : Lord Bacon. He was one of the wisest 
men that ever lived, though not without his faults ; 
but when you grow up you will read his books if 
you wish to be truly wise. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

CHARLES 1.-1625 to 1649. 

How Charles the First was governed by ill advisers ; how he made 
the people j^ay taxes without the consent of Parliament ; how 
the Earl of Strafford behaved very cruelly, and was beheaded ; 
and how the King's evil government caused a Civil War. 

WHEN Charles the First came to be king, all the 
people were in hopes that he would be a 
better king than his father, as the}' believed he was 
a lietter man, and so he really was. 



Chap. XL VIII. HAUGHTY DEMANDS OF MONEY. 197 

He was young and pleasant-looking ; he was foud 
of learning, and seemed inclined to show kindness 
to all clever men, whether the}' were poets or good 
writers in any way, or musicians, or painters, or 
architects. 

Besides, the people hoped that he would manage 
his money better than James, and not waste it in 
clothes, and jewels, and drinking, and hunting, and 
giving it to favourites. 

But, unhappily, Charles still allowed the Duke of 
Buckingham to advise him in everything ; indeed, 
he was a greater favourite than before James's death, 
for he had managed to get the French princess 
Henrietta Maria for a wife for Charles, who was so 
fond of her, that he thought he never could thank 
Buckingham enough for bringing her to England. 

But the parliament, particularly the Commons, 
did not like the marriage so much. The new queeu 
was a Roman Catholic, and she brought a number of 
Roman Catholic ladies and priests to be her ser- 
vants, and she soon showed that she was greedy and 
extravagant. 

Charles, who, as I told yon, had been very badly 
taught by his father, desired the parliament to give 
him moue}' in a very haughty manner. The parlia- 
ment said the people should pay some taxes, but 
that they could not afford a great deal at that time, 
for James had been so extravagant that they had 
not much left to give. Charles, by the advice of 
Buckingham, sent awa}- the parliament, and tried 
to get money without its leave, and sent officers 
about the country to beg for money in the king's 
name. Most people were afraid to refuse, and so 
Charles and Buckingham got a good deal to do as 
the}" pleased with. 



198 CHARLES J. Chap. XLVIII. 

Buckingham persuaded King Charles to make war 
against France, because one of the great men in 
France had aft'ronted him. King James had begun 
a war with Spain. 

The people were now more and more angry, for 
though the}- might like to fight for the glorj' of 
England, or for the good of the king, the}' could not 
bear to think of fighting for a proud, cruel, and 
selfish man like Buckingham. 

I do not know what might liaA^e happened at that 
very time, perhaps a civil war, if a desperate man 
named Felton had not killed the Duke of Bucking- 
ham at Portsmouth, when he was on the way to 
France to renew the war. 

The people were again in hopes that the king 
would do what was right, and consult the pai'lia- 
ment before he attempted to make war, or take 
money for his subjects, or put any man in prison, 
now that his bad adviser, Buckingham, was dead. 
But they were much mistaken. Charles found new 
advisers, and governed for eleven years without a 
parliament. The king wanted money, and tried to 
compel all who had land to pay a tax called Ship 
Money ; but some gentlemen, one of whom was Mr. 
Johu Hampden, refused to pay it, and said it was 
unlawful for the king to take money without the 
consent of parliament. But the judges declared that 
the king could take Ship Money, and that the joeople 
must pay it. Two of them, however, felt compelled 
to say that Charles had broken the laws, and the 
promises made by the English kings in agreement 
with the Great Charter. 

This made the people very angry. They said the 
worst times were come again, when the kings fancied 
they might rob their subjects, and put them in prison 
when they pleased. 



Chap. XLVIII. EXECUTION OF HTRAFFOBD. 1D9 

Charles was a very affectionate man, and he conld 
not help loving and trnsting others instead of making 
use of his own sense and trusting his people, as Queen 
Elizabeth had done. So he allowed the queen to 
advise him in most things, and Laud, Bishop of 
London, in others ; particularly in matters of re- 
ligion. So he began to oppress the Puritans in 
England. In poor Ireland, a harsh man, the Earl 
of Strafford, a great friend and favourite of King- 
Charles, governed in such a cruel manner that 
everybody complained. 

He sent English clergymen to preach in those 
parts of Ireland where the poor people could only 
understand Irish, and punished the people for not 
listening : and when some of the bishops (particu- 
larly good Bishop Bedel) begged him to have mercy 
upon the Irish, he threatened to punish them most 
severely for speaking in their favour. 

All this time the king and queen and their friends 
were going on taking mone^' by unlawful means from 
the people, till he was obliged to call a parliament. 
Then the gentlemen of the Commons insisted on 
Lord Strafford and Archbishop Laud being punished. 
Indeed, they would not be satisfied until Charles 
consented that Strafford's head should be cut off. 

Now, though Strafford well deserved some punish- 
ment, he had done nothing which by laAV deserved 
death ; and therefore Charles ought to have refused 
his consent. The king had often quarrelled with 
the parliament, and acted contrary to its advice 
when he was in the wrong ; but now that it would 
have been right to resist he gave way, and Strafford, 
who loved Charles, and whose very faults were 
owing to the king's own wishes and commands, was 
beheaded by his order. 




ytrafford going to Execution. 



Chap. XLVIII. CIVIL WAR IlEGINS. 201 

This was a sad thing for Charles. His friends 
fonnd that he conld not defend them, and many 
went away from England. The king still wanted 
to take money, and govern in all things, without the 
parliament ; he even went so far as to send some 
of the Commons to prison. And the parliament 
became so angry at last that a dreadful civil war 
began. 

The king put himself at the head of one arm^', and 
he sent to Germany for his nephew, Prince Rupert, 
a cruel and harsh man, to assist him. The queen 
went to France and Holland, to try to get foreign 
soldiers to fight in the king's army against the par- 
liament. The king's people were called Cavaliers. 

The parliament soon gathered another army 
together to fight the king, and made Lord Essex 
general ; and the navy also joined the parliament : 
and all the parliament people were called Round- 
heads. 

Now we will end this chapter. And I beg 3-ou will 
think of what I said about James the First, that he 
was a mischievous king. If he had not begun to 
behave ill to tlie peo^jle and parliament, and taught 
his son Charles that there was no occasion for kings 
to keep the laws, these quarrels with the parliament 
need not have happened, and there would not have 
been a Civil War. 



202 CHARLES I. Chap. XLIX. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

CHARLES I. — Continued. 

How, after many battles had been fought, King Charles went to 
Scotland ; how the Scots sold him to the English i^arliaraent; 
how the army got the King into their power, and appointed 
judges to try him, who condemned him to death ; how, after a 
sad parting from two of his children, he was beheaded. 

A BOOK twice as big as our little Histor}- would 
^i-JL not hold all the stoiy of the Civil Wars. Eng- 
land, Scotland, aud Ireland were all engaged in 
them ; and many dreadful battles were fought, where 
Englishmen killed one another, and a great deal of 
blood was shed. 

The first great battle was fought at Edgehill, 
where man}' of the king's officers were killed: then, 
at a less fight at Chalgrove, the parliament lost that 
great aud good man Mr. Hampden. The battles of 
Newbury, of Marston Moor, and of Naseby, are all 
sadly famous for the number of brave aud good 
Englishmen that were killed. 

During this civil war, the parliament sent often 
to the king, in hopes of persuading him to make 
peace : and I believe that the parliament, aud the 
king, and the real English lords and gentlemen on 
both sides, truly desired to have peace, aud several 
times the king had promised the parliament to do 
what they lawfully might ask of him. 

But, unhappil}', the queen had come back to 
England, and the king trusted her and took her 
advice, when he had much better have followed his 
own good thoughts. Now, the queen aud Prince 
Rupert, the king's nephew, aud some of the lords, 



Chap. XLIX. OLIVER CROMWELL. 203 

were of James the First's way of thinking, and 
would not alloAV that subjects had any right even to 
their own lives, or lands, or money, if the king chose 
to take them : and so they persuaded the king to 
break his word so often with the people and par- 
liament, that at last they could not trust him any 
longer. 

When the king found that the parliament would 
not trust him again, he detei-miued to go to the 
Scottish army that had come to England to help the 
parliament, and he hoped that the Scots would take 
his part and defend him. But he had offended the 
Scots by meddling more than they liked with their 
religion, and some other things, and the leaders of 
their army agreed to give him up to the English 
parliament. You will hardl}^ believe, however, that 
those mean Scots actuall}' sold the king to the Eng- 
lish parliament : but they did so. The unhapp}^ 
king was sent back to England, and was now obliged 
to agree to what the parliament wished, and there 
seemed to be an end of the Civil War. 

It was not long, however, before it began again ; 
and this second time it ended in Cromwell and the 
other generals of the arm}' becoming the most pow- 
erful men in England. These men now drove away 
almost all the lords and gentlemen from parliament, 
so there was nobody but the generals who had any 
power. 

The wisest of the generals. Lord Essex, was dead. 
The next, General Fairfax, was a good man, but 
neither so clever nor so cunning as some of the 
others, particularly one whose name was Oliver 
Cromwell. 

This Cromwell was a Puritan, or Roundhead. 
He was brave, and very sagacious, and very strictly 



204 CHARLES I. Chap. XLIX. 

religious, according to his own notions, though some 
men thought him a hypocrite ; at all events lie was 
always thinking how he could make himself the 
greatest man in England. 

lie ma}- have thought that, thougli the army had 
got King Charles in its power, the people would 
never allow him to be put in prison for his lifetime, 
and that, if he were sent away to another country, 
he might come back sometime and make war again. 
So he said that the king had behaved so ill that he 
ought to be tried before judges. And he and the 
other generals named a great many judges to ex- 
amine into all the king's actions and words. 

In the meantime King Charles had been moved 
from one prison to another, till at last he was 
brought to London to be tried. 

I cannot explain to you, my dear, all the hard and 
cruel things that were done to this poor king, whose 
greatest faults were owing to the bad education 
given him by his father, and the bad advice he got 
from his wife, and those men whom he thought his 
best friends. 

When his misfortunes came, his wife escaped to 
France with a few of her own favourites ; and her 
eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales, also escaped. 
Soon after his second son, James, Duke of York, 
also escaped to his mother ; but the king's daughter. 
Princess Elizabeth, and the little Hemy, Duke of 
Gloucester, remained in England. 

When King Charles was brought to London, onl}' 
two of his own friends could sec him every day : one 
of these was Dr. Juxon, Bishop of London, and the 
other was Mr. Herbert, his valet, who had been with 
him ever since the army had made him prisoner. 

Shortly after the king was brought to London 



Chap. XLIX. CONDEMNED TO DEATH. 205 

the judges appointed by the arm}^ condemned him to 
death, and three days afterwards his head was cut off. 

But those three da3's were the best and greatest of 
Charles's life. In those he showed that, if he had 
been mistaken as a king, he was a good man and a 
right high-minded gentleman. One of these days 
3'ou will read and know more about him. I will 
onl}' tell 3'ou now about his taking leave of his chil- 
dren ; and I will copy the very words of his valet, 
Mr. Herbert, who wrote down all that happened to his 
dear king and master, during the last part of his life. 

The da}' after the king was condemned to die, 
" Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester, her 
brother, came to take their sad farewell of the king 
their father, and to ask his blessing. This was the 
twenty-ninth of January-. The Princess, being the 
elder, was the most sensible of her royal father's 
condition, as appeared by her sorrowful look and 
excessive weeping ; and her little brother seeing his 
sister weep, he took the like impression, though, bj' 
reason of his tender age, he could not have the like 
apprehensions. The king raised them both from off 
their knees ; he kissed them, gave them his blessing, 
and setting them on his knees, admonished them con- 
cerning their duty and loj-al observance to the queen 
their mother, the prince that was his successor, love 
to the Duke of York and his other relations. The 
king then gave them all his jewels, save the George 
he wore, which was cut out in an onyx with great 
curiosity, and set about with twenty-one fan* dia- 
monds, and the reverse set with the like number ; 
and again kissing his children, had such pretty and 
pertinent answers from them both, as drew tears of 
joy and love from his eyes ; and then, praying God 
Almighty to bless them, he turned about, expressing 



206 



CHARLES I. 



Chap. XLIX. 



a tender and fatherly affection. Most sorrowful was 
this parting, the young princess shedding tears and 
crying lamentabh', so as moved others to pity that 
formerly were hard-hearted ; and at opening the 
chamber-door, tlie king returned hastily from the 
window and kissed them and blessed them." So this 
poor little prince and princess never saw their father 
again. 




Parting of King Charles and his children. 

The next morning very early, the king called Mr. 
Herbert to help him to dress, and said it was like a 
second marriage-day, and he wished to be well 
dressed, for before night he hoped to be in heaven. 

While he was dressing, he said, "Death is not 
terrible to me ! I bless God that I am prepared." 



Chap. XLIX. 



HIS EXECUTION. 



207 



Good Bishop Juxou then came and prayed with 
Charles, till Colonel Hacker, who had the care of the 
king, came to call them. 




King Charles T. on tlie Scaffold. 

Then the king walked to Whitehall, and as he went 
one soldier prayed "God ble^s" him. And so he 
passed to the banqueting house, in front of which a 
scaffold was built. King Charles was brought out 
upon it ; and, after speaking a short time to his 



208 THE COMMONWEALTH. Chap. L. 

friends, and to good Bishop Juxon, lie knelt down 
and laid his head upon the block, and a man iu a 
mask cut off his head with one stroke. 

The bishop and Mr. Herbert then took their 
master's body and head, and laid them in a coffin, 
and buried them in St. George's Chapel at Windsor, 
where several kinss had been buried before. 



CHAPTER L. 

THE COMMONWEALTH.— 1649 to 1660. 

How the Scotch chose Prince Charles to be their King ; how 
Oliver Cromwell quieted Ireland ; how the Scotch put the 
Marquis of Montrose to death ; how Prince Charles's army was 
beaten b^ Cromwell at Worcester ; how the Prince escaped to 
France after many dangers ; how the English went to war with 
the Dutch, and beat them ; how Cromwell turned out the par- 
liament, and was made Protector ; and how he governed wisely 
till his death. 

AS none of the people either in England, Scotland, 
or Ireland, had expected King Charles would be 
put to death, ^-ou ma_y suppose, my dear little Arthur, 
how angi'}- man}- of them were when the}' heard 
what had happened. 

In Ireland the Roman Catholics knew the}' should 
be treated worse by the Puritans than they had been 
by the king's governors ; and the English settlers 
expected to be no better used than the old Irish ; 
so they all made ready to fight against the army 
of the English parliament, if it should be sent to 
Ireland. 

In Scotland, those who had sold King Charles to 
the English parliament were so angry with the 
English Roundheads for killing the king, that they 



Chap. L. MAKQVIS OF MONTROSE. 2(ll» 

chose Prince Charles, the son of the poor dead king, 
for their king ; and they got an army together to 
defend him and his friends. 

As for England, the parliament (or rather the part 
of it that remained after the king's death) chose a 
nnmber of persons to govern the kingdom, and called 
them a council of state ; and this council began to 
tr}' to settle all those things quietly that had been 
disturbed by the sad civil war. 

But the civil war in Ireland became so violent 
that the Council sent Oliver Cromwell, who was the 
best general in England, to that country ; and he 
soon won a good many battles, and made great part 
of the conntr}^ submit to the English. And he put 
his own soldiers into the towns, to keep them. As 
to the Irish who would have taken young King 
Charles' part, and were Roman Catholics, he sent 
many of them abroad, and treated others so hardly 
that they were glad to get out of the country. So 
Cromwell made Ireland quiet by force, and left 
General Ireton to take care of it. 

While Cromwell was in Ireland, a very brave 
Scotchman, whose name was James G-raham, Marquis 
of Montrose, had gone to Scotland with soldiers from 
Germany and France, parti}', as he said, to punish those 
who had allowed Charles the First to be beheaded, 
and partly to try to make Prince Charles king. This 
brave gentleman, whose story j-ou will love to read 
some day, was taken prisoner by the Scotch army. 
The officers behaved very ill, for they forgot his 
bravery, and the kindness he had always shown to 
everybody' when he was powerful. The}' forgot that 
lie thought he was doing his duty in fighting for his 
king, and they put him to death very cruell}'. The}' 
tied him to a cart, and dragged him disgracefully to 



210 THE COMMONWEALTH. Chap. L. 

prison. They hanged him on a tall gaUows, with a 
book, in which his life was written, tied to his neck ; 
then the}' cnt off his head and stuck it up over his 
prison-door. 

Abont a month after the Scotch had disgraced 
themselves by that cruel action, 3'oung Prince Charles, 
whom they called Charles the Second, arrived in 
Scotland. But he found that he was treated more 
like a prisoner than a king. The lords and generals 
of the vScotch army wanted him to be a presbyterian 
like them ; but he liked better to go with the Scotch 
army into England, to tr}' and persuade the English 
to fight for him, and to make him king. 

But Cromwell, who had returned from Ireland, 
collected a large armj^ in England, with which he 
marched into Scotland ; and, finding that Charles 
meant to make war in England, he followed him 
back again with part of the army, and left General 
Monk in Scotland with the rest. 

Cromwell found King Charles and his arm}' at 
Worcester, and there he fought and won a great 
battle, in which a great many Scotch noblemen were 
killed', as well as several English gentlemen. Charles 
was obliged to run awaj' and hide himself, and for 
this time he gave up all hopes of being really King 
of England. 

You would like, I daresay, to hear how he con- 
trived to escape from Cromwell, who would cer- 
tainly have shut him up in prison if he had caught 
him. 

I must tell you that the English generals had pro- 
mised a great deal of money to anybody who would 
catch Charles and bring him to them ; and the}' 
threatened to hang anybody who helped the poor 
young prince in any wa}' ; but there were some brave 



Chap. L. ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES. 211 

men and women too, who had pity on him, as you 
shall hear. 

After the battle of Worcester, the first place lie 
got to was a farm called Boscobel, where some poor 
wood-cutters, of the name of Penderell, took care of 
him, and gave him some of the:r own clothes to 
wear, that the soldiers might not find out that he 
was the prince. One evening he was obliged to 
climb up into an oak tree, and sit all night among 
the branches ; it was well for him that the leaves 
were thick, for he heard some soldiers who w^ere 
looking for him, sa}', as they passed under the 
tree, that they were sure he was somewhere 
thereabouts. 

At that time his poor feet Avere so hurt with going 
without shoes, that he was obliged to get on horse- 
back to move to another place, where the good wood- 
cutters still went with him. This time he was 
hidden b}- a lady, who called him her servant, and 
made him ride with her, in woman's dress, to Bristol, 
where she w-as in hopes that she should find a ship 
to take him to France. But there was no ship ready 
to sail. Then he went to a Colonel Windham's 
house, where the colonel, his motlier, his wife, and 
four servants, all knew him ; Ijut not one told he 
was there. At last he got a vessel to take him at 
Shoreham, in Sussex, after he had been in more 
danger several times than I can tell you. He got 
safel}' to France, and did not come back to England 
for many years. 

While Cromwell was following Charles to England, 
General Monk conquered the Scotch army, so that 
England, Scotland, and Ireland were all made obed- 
ient to the parliament about the time when the young 
king was driven out of the counti-y. 



212 THE COMMONWEALTH. Chap. L. 

But the parliameut was obliged to attend to a war 
with the Dutch, who had behaved so veiy cruelly to 
some English [)eople in India, that all England was 
eager to have them punished. 

Accordingly the English and Dutch went to war, 
but they fought entivel}'' on the sea. The Dutch 
had a ver}- famous admiral named Tromp. The 
best English admiral was Blake ; and these two brave 
men fought a great many battles. Tromp gained 
one or two victories ; but Blake beat him often ; and 
at last, on Tromp being killed, the Dutch were glad 
to make peace, and promised to punish all those 
persons who had behaved ill to the English in India, 
and to pay a great deal of money for the mischief 
they had done. 

About four years after the death of King Charles 
I., the officers of the army thought themselves strong 
enough to govern the kingdom without the parlia- 
ment ; so one daj^ Cromwell took a party of soldiers 
into the parliament- house, and turned everybody 
out, after abusing them heartily, and then locked 
up the doors. After this unlawful act, he soon con- 
trived to get the people to call him the Protector 
of England, which was only another name for king ; 
and from that time till his death he governed Eng- 
land as if he had been a lawful king. 

Cromwell was very clever, and alwa3-s chose the 
best generals and admirals, whenever he sent armies 
or fleets to fight. He knew how to find out the very 
best judges to take care of the laws, and the wisest 
and properest men to send to foreign countries, 
when messages for the good or the honour of England 
were required. He rewarded those who served the 
country well, but he spent very little money on 
himself or his family. He treated the children of 



Chap. L. OLIVEB CROMWELL. 213 

Charles that had not fled away to France with kind- 
ness. The little Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of 
Gloucester were allowed to live tos-ether at Caris- 




C'ronnvell turns out the Parliament. 

brook ; and a tutor and attendants were appointed to 
teach them and watch over them. The little princess 
soon died ; and then the young Duke was sent to 
France to his mother, and money was oiven him to 
l)ay tiie ex[)enses of his journey. 



214 CHARLES II. Chap. LI. 

After such a dreadful civil war as had made Eng- 
land unhappy during the reign of Charles I., the 
peace which was in the land, after Cromwell was 
made Protector, gave the people time to recover, 
Scotland was better governed than it had ever been 
before. Onl^- turbulent Ireland was kept quiet bv 
such means as made everything worse than before. 

In foreign countries the name of England was 
feared more in Cromwell's time than it had ever 
been since the da3'S of Henr}- V. And I must saj* of 
liim that he used his power well. 

He died when he had been Protector hardly five 
j'^ears. 

There were a number of ver}- great men in the 
times of the civil wars. But I will only tell you of 
one, whom I ha^-e not named 3'et. He was secretar}^ 
to the Council of State, and to Cromwell. But what 
we best know him b}^, and love him for now, is his 
poetry. His name was John Milton ; and every 
Englishman must be proud that he was born in the 
same land, and that he speaks the same tongue with 
John Milton. 



CHAPTER LI. 

CHARLES II.— 1660 to 1685. 

How Richard Cromwell was Protector for a short time ; how the 
people chose to have a king again ; how General Monk brought 
home Charles the Second ; how there was again a war with "the 
Dutch ; how the great Plague was stopped by the great Fire ; 
how the King chose evil counsellors ; how the Scotch and Iri.sh 
were treated with great cruelty ; how the King caused Lord 
Russell and many more to be put to death. 

AFTER Cromwell's death his friends wished his 
son, Richard Cromwell, to be Protector of Eng- 
land. But Richard, who was a shy, quiet man, did 



Chap. LI. CHARLES IT. 215 

not like it, and after a, very short trial went home 
to his house in the country, and left the people to do 
as they pleased about a Protector. 

But the people were tired of being governed by 
the army, even under such a wise and ckner man 
as Cromwell, and the}' chose to have a king and real 
parliament again. 

Most men were glad to have bishops again, and 
to be allowed to have their own prayer-books and 
their own music in church, instead of being forced 
to listen for hours together to sermons from the 
Puritans, who called all pleasant things sin, and 
grudged even little children their play-hours. 

But the really wise people of all kinds, the English 
Protestants, the Puritans, and the Roman Catholics, 
had another reason for being glad the king was 
come home. I will trj^to explain this reason. You 
have read that whenever there was any dispute 
about who should be king, there was always a war 
of some kind, and generally the worst of all, a civil 
war. Now, if the people had to choose who should 
be their new king every time an old one dies, so 
many men would wish to be king, that there would 
be disputes, and then perhaps war ; and while the 
war was going on there would be nobod}^ to see that 
the laws were obeyed, and all the mischief would 
happen that comes in civil wars. 

Now in England, it is settled that when a king- 
dies his eldest son shall be king next ; or if he has 
no son, that his nearest relation shall be king or 
queen. You remember that after Edward the Sixth, 
his sisters, Mary and P^lizabeth, were queens, and 
then their cousin, James Stuart, was king. This 
rule prevents all dis|)utes, and keeps tlie kingdom 
quiet. 



216 CHAELES II. Chap. LI. 

After Oliver Cromwell died, the wisest people 
were afraid there would be war before another pro- 
tector could be chosen, so they agreed to have 
Charles, the sou of Charles the First for their king, 
and to get him to promise not to break the laws, or 
to oppress the people ; and they thought they would 
watch him, to prevent his doing wrong to the 
country, and they hoped he might have a son to be 
king quietly after him. 

General Monk, who had the care of all Scotland 
in Cromwell's time, was the person who contrived 
all the plaus for bringing Charles the Second to 
England. It was done ver}" quietl}'. An English 
fleet went to Scheveling, in Holland, where Charles 
got on board, and landed at Dover : in a very short 
time he arrived in London, along with General 
Monk, on his birth-day, the 29th of May, and 
England has never been without a king or queen 
since. 

Charles was a merry, cheerful man, and very good 
natured. He was fond of balls, and plays, and 
masques, and nobody could have thought that Eng- 
land was the same place, who had seen it in Crom- 
well's time. Then, people wore plain black or 
brown clothes, stiff starched cravats or small collars, 
their hair combed straight down, and the}' all looked 
as grave as if they were walking to a funeral. 

But when Charles came, the ladies and gentlemen 
put on gay-coloured silk and satin coats ; they wore 
ribbons and feathers, and long curl}' wigs, and 
danced and sang as if they were at a wedding. 

However, while Charles and the young men were 
so gay, there were a few old wise lawyers, and 
clergymen, and admirals, and generals, who managed 
the laws and other business very well, although 



Chap. LI. PUBLIC ENTRY OF CHARLES 11. 



217 



there were a good mfiii}' people who were sadl^' 
vexed to see a king again in England. 

The king soon married the Princess Catherine of 
Portugal, and her father gave her the island of lioni- 




King (Jiarles IF. outers l^diidoii at ]us Ilestoralimi. 

l)a_y, in the East Indies, as a wedding gift. It was 
almost the first place the English had in India, and 
now we have gained nearly all that large countn , 



218 CHARLES II. Chap. LI. 

which is larger thfin England, and France, and 
Portugal, all put together. 

While Charles the Second was king, there was 
a war with Holland, and another short one with 
France. Our battles with Holland were chiefly 
fought at sea : one of our liest admirals was James, 
Duke of York, the king's brother, who beat the 
Dutch admirals, Opdam, and the sou of the famous 
Trorap. In another great battle, which lasted four 
days, G-eneral Monk, whom tlie king had made 
Duke of Albemarle, beat tlie great Admiral de 
Ruj'ter, aud other English officers took several good 
towns which the Dutch had built in North America, 
especially- New York. 

Pleased with these victories, the king grew care- 
less, and forgot to have the Dutch fleets properl}' 
watched, so one of them sailed into the river Med- 
way, and burnt a number of English ships at 
Chatham, and did more mischief by landing at 
different places, and burning ships and houses, than 
liad ever been done in the same way since the days 
of the old Danes. 

Tills was near the end of the war. The English, 
Dutch, and French were equally glad to make 
peace. 

The plague now broke out, first in Holland, then 
in England. Hundreds of people died ever}' day, 
and it seemed shocking to lie killing more men when 
so many were d3'ing of that dreadful disorder. 

Often when people did not know they had the 
plague they dropped down dead in the streets. 
Sometimes a friend would be talking to another and 
seem quite well and merry, and in a minute he 
would feel sick, and die before he could get home. 
Sometimes everybody in a house would die, and 



Chap. LI. THE PLAGUE. — THE GREAT FIRE. 219 

then the grave diggers had to go and get the dead 
ont of the house, and put them in a cart at night, 
and carry them to a place near London, where a 
great grave was dug, so big that many hundred 
people were buried there together. Sometimes a 
poor mother would follow the dead-cart crying be- 
cause all her children were in it, and she had nobod}- 
left alive to love. And often little children were 
found almost starved, because their fathers and 
mothers were dead and there was nobody to feed 
them. There was one lady whose name was North, 
who had a very little baby ; that baby caught the 
plague. The mother sent all her other children, and 
her servants, and everybod}' else into the countr}', 
and stayed b^' lierself with the bab}' and nursed him, 
and would not fear the plague while she was watch- 
ing her sielv child ; and it pleased God to save her 
and the child too. I have read what he says of his 
dear mother's love to him, in a book he wrote 
when he was an oldisli man ; and I think that 
the love he always kept for his mother, and the 
remembrance of her kindness, made him a good 
man all his life. 

This sad plague was put an end to by a dreadful 
fire, which burnt down a great part of London. It 
lasted for four days ; and though everybody tried to 
put an end to it, it still burned on, for there was a 
strong wind, which blew the flames from one house 
to another. At that time the streets were very nar- 
row, and most of the houses were built of wood, so 
no wonder they burned fiereel3^ 

But good arose from this evil : wlien London was 
built again the streets were made wider, and the 
houses were built of brick and stone, so they were 
not so apt to burn, and they could be kept cleaner ; 



220 CHARLES TT. Chap. LI. 

and as the plague seldom comes to clean places, it 
has never been in London since the fire. 

But now we must think about the king. Though 
he was a very merry man, he was far from being a 
good one. In the first part of his reign he listened 
to good advice, especially that given to him by Lord 
Clarendon, who had sta^'ed with him all the time he 
was unhappy and poor, and while he was forced to 
live out of England. But it was not long before he 
neglected all the good and old friends of his father 
or of the people, and began to keep compan}' with a 
number of gay men, who were always laughing and 
making jokes when they were seen ; but the}' gave 
the king bad advice in secret, and when the}' were 
trusted b}' him they behaved so ill to the people, 
that if it had not been for fear of another civil war, 
they would have tried to send Charles out of Eng- 
land again. 

The Duke of Lauderdale, one of Charles's greatest 
friends, was sent to Scotland to govern it for Charles. 
Perhaps there never was so cruel and wicked a gov- 
ernor anywhere before. He ordered everybod}' to 
use the English prayer-book, and to leave otf their 
own waj-s of worshipping God, and to change their 
prayers. And when he found any persons who did 
not, he had them shot or hanged at their own doors ; 
and what was worse, if anybody would not tell where 
the people he wanted to shoot or to hang were to be 
found, he would put them in prison, or torture them 
by putting their legs in wooden cases, and then ham- 
mering them so tight that the bones were broken ; 
and this he did to children for saving their fathers 
and mothers, or to grown people for saving their 
children, or brothers, or sisters. I am sorry to say 
that another Scotclimau, John Graham of Claver- 
house, was his lielper in all this wickedness. 



Chap. 1,1. LORD RUSSELi.. 221 

Scothmd was therefore A'ery miserable under 
Charle.s, and you will read in larger histories that 
the Scotch rebelled, and fouglit against the king. 

Ireland was treated, if possible, worse ; and as to 
England, several parts were ready to rebel, espe- 
cially when it came to bo known that Charles and his 
four chief friends were so mean as to take money 
from the King of France to pay Charles for letting 
him conquer several other countries that England 
ought to have saved from him. 

The king's brother, James, Duke of York, was 
known to approve of all the king's cruel and wicked 
actions ; so that the English people found, after all 
they had suffered in hopes of getting back their 
freedom, that Charles the Second wished as much 
to take it away as his father and grandfather did. 

I do not wonder, therefore, that some wise, and 
good, and clever men, who loved our dear England 
as they ought to do, met together to talk about the 
best means of having proper parliaments again, and 
preventing the cruel king from treating England, 
Scotland, and Ireland, so harshl}''. 

One of these good men was William Lord Russell ; 
and another was Algernon Sidney*. The king and 
his wicked friends found out that they were con- 
sidering how to save the countr}- from the bad 
government of Charles and James. They took Lord 
Russell and Algernon Sidney, and put them in 
prison, and shortly after condemned them to have 
their heads cut off. 

Lord Russell's wife was one of the best women I 
ever read about. She went and knelt down at 
Charles's feet to beg him to spare her husband. She 
even tried to save him l)y offering a great deal of 
money to the greedy king ; but he would not save 



222 CHARLES J L (HAP. LI. 

Lord Russell, and when Lndy Russell found her dear 
husband must die, she attended him like a servant, 
she wrote for him like a clerk, she comforted him 
as none but a good wife can comfort a great man in 
his misfortunes ; and after his death she brought up 
his children to know his goodness and tr^- to be 
like him. The man who attended most to Lord 
and Lady Russell at that time was Bishop Burnet, 
who has written a true history of those things. He 
tells us that after Lord Russell had taken leave of 
his wife, he said, " The bitterness of death is past." 
Lord Cavendish, a friend of Lord Russell's, offered 
to save him by changing clothes with him, but Lord 
Russell refused, lest his friend should be punished 
for saving him. He behaved as an Englishman 
ought to do at his death, with courage, with gentle- 
ness to those people who were with him, even to the 
man who was to cut off his head, and with meekness 
and piety to God. 

Algernon Sidney, who, though he wished for 
freedom, took money from the King of France, was 
the next man put to death by King Charles, and 
after him a great manj' who were either his friends 
or Lord Russell's. 

These were almost the last crimes Charles had 
time to commit. He died suddenly, disliked by 
most of his people, and that by his own fault. As 
I told yon, they were ready to love him when he 
first came to be king ; but his extravagance and 
harshness soon changed their love into dislike. 



Chap. Lll. J AMEtS II. 223 

CHAPTER LIT. 

JAMES II. —1685 to 1688. 

How the Duke of Monmouth rebelled against James the Second, 
and was beheaded; how Colonel Kirke and Judge Jeffries com- 
mitted great cruelties ; how the people wished to get rid of 
James on account of his tyranny ; how the Prince of r)range 
came over to England, and was made King; and how James 
escaped to France. 

THE reign of James the Second was a veiy short 
one, but many things were done in it which we 
must remember. You know that he was son of 
King Charles the First, who sent him to his mother 
in France to be taken care of during the civil war. 
This was bad for James, who was taught in France 
to be a Roman Catholic, to hate the English par- 
liaments, and to think that kings might do as they 
chose, and change the religion of the country they 
governed, or take money, or put men in prison, 
without thinking whether it was just or unjust. 

James married, first, a daughter of that Lord 
Clarendon who would have given good advice to 
Charles the Second, as I told you ; but neither 
Charles nor James would listen to him. James had 
two daugliters when he came to be king ; they^ 
were both married ; the eldest to William, Prince of 
Orange, who was the king's nephew, and the second 
to Prince George of Denmark. You will hear more 
of both these ladies by-and-by. King James's sec- 
ond wife was an Italian lady, a princess of Modena, 
a Roman Catholic, proud and haughty, and disliked 
by the English. 

Before James had been king a 3'ear, the Duke of 
Monmouth, a young prince, who was his nephew, 



2-24 JAMES TI. Chap. Lll. 

l:iii<]eil ill England with a small army, in hopes the 
peoplt! would iiuike him king instead of James. 
But King James's soldiers soon put an end to Mon- 
mouth's arm}', and the young prince was sent to 
London, where his head was cut off. 

The king sent two men to punish the rebels in 
the parts where Monmouth's army was destroyed, 
C'olonel Kirke and Judge Jeffries. These two men, 
by the king's orders, committed the greatest cruel- 
ties ; they hung some men on different church stee- 
ples ; some they cut to pieces before the}' were quite 
dead. A kind and charitable old woman, Mrs. 
Gaunt, was burnt alive because she had once given 
shelter to a conspirator against King Charles; and 
Lady Lisle was put to death for the same reason. 
In short, King James soon showed that he was as 
cruel and wicked as any king that ever reigned in 
any country, and the people began to hate him. 

The next things that made the English people 
wish to get rid of James as a king, were his trying 
to govern without a parliament ; his trying to give 
all power in Church and State to the Roman Catho- 
lics ; and his putting seven English bishops in prison 
because they entreated him not to make the clergy 
read in church during divine service an unlawful 
proclamation. 

The king ordered the bishops to be tried, in hopes 
that the judges would condemn them to be punished ; 
but the jury (which is, you know, made up of twelve 
or more men, appointed to help the judge to find out 
the truth) said that the bishops were not guilty of 
anything for which the king could punish them ; and 
as soon as the people heard this, all those who were 
in the street waiting to hear what the judges would 
say, and even the king's own soldiers, set up such 
a shout for joy that the king heard it. 



Chap. ].1I. WILLIAM, PRINCE OF ORANGE. 22;') 

lusteiul of beginning a civil war, however, a niuii- 
ber of tlie wisest and best English noblemen sent 
messages to William, Prince of Orange, who had 
married King James's eldest danghter, Mar^', and 
invited him to come and help them to put an end to 
James's misrule and tyranny. 

The}- asked William to come because he was a 
good Protestant, and the nearest relation to the 
king, next to his little son who was just born. 
Besides, William was a very brave prince, and had 
defended his own country against that grasping 
man, Louis the Fourteenth, King of France, who 
called himself Great because his army had won a 
great many battles and killed thousands of people. 

William and Mary agreed to govern always by 
means of the parliament ; to do equal justice to all 
their subjects; to listen to their complaints; and 
never to let the Pope have anything to do with the 
government of England. 

When these things were agreed to, William came 
over to England with a great many ships, and a 
large army, and began to march from Torbay, where 
he landed, to London. In a few daj's the gentlemen 
and people, and most of the noblemen of England 
joined him. Even tlie king's second daughter, the 
Princess Anne, with her husband. Prince George of 
Denmark, left King James, who found that he had 
hardly one friend in the world, no, not even his own 
children. The queen was hated even more than the 
king, so she made haste to run away, and the king 
put her, and a little bahy boy that they had, into the 
care of a kind French nobleman, named Lauzun, who 
carried them to France, where King Louis received 
them kindly. 

King James stayed a few days longer in England, 



22C) WILLJAM AXh MARY. Chap. L[II. 

in hopes to find sonic friends. But lie had l)ehaved 
too ill ; no P^nglisliman would take his part. So in 
less than four years from the time he became King 
of England he was obliged to leave it for ever, and 
William, Prince of Orange, was made king by the 
whole people. And Marj' was made queen, to reign 
with him, not like a queen who is onl}^ called so be- 
cause she is the king's wife. 



CHAPTER LITI. 

WILLIAM III. — MARY II. —1688 to 1702. 

How there Avere troubles in Scotland and in Ireland; how William 
the Third won the battle of the Boyue ; how he fought against 
the French, till they were glad to make peace; how Queen 
Mary was regretted at her death ; how the East India Com- 
pany was established ; and how King William did many good 
things for England. 

THE beginning of King William and Queen 
Mary's reign was very full of trouble. 

It was some time before the parliament could put 
right many of the things that had been so wrong 
while James the Second was king ; and before every- 
body would agree how much money to give the king 
to spend upon the soldiers and sailors he might want in 
war, as well as upon judges and other persons whose 
duty it was to help the king to govern in peace as 
well as war. 

Besides this, a great many people in Scotland 
liked James well enough to wish him to be their 
king still, because his grandfather came from Scot- 
land ; and there were great disputes about allowing 
William to be king there. Lord Dundee, that 
Claverhouse who behaved so cruelly to the people in 
the time of Charles the Second, began a civil war 
against the new king ; but he was killed at the bat- 



Chap. LIII. BATTLE OF THE JiOYNE. 227 

tie of Killicvankie, in the Highlands of Scotland ; 
and, after a great deal of diflicnlty, William ruled 
as King of Scotland. 

But ^\''illiam had more trouble with Ireland, as 
3'ou shall read. When King James ran away from 
England he went to France, where his queen and 
little son were already. Louis, King of France, who 
hated King William because he had always defended 
the countries and the people that Louis wanted to 
oppress, gave King James a good deal of money, 
and many soldiers, and ships to carry them to Ireland 
where he landed with them, and where most of the 
L'ish under Lord Tyrconnel joined him, as well as 
many of the old English settlers, who were all 
Roman Catholics, and who did not wish for a Prot- 
estant king. 

As soon as King William had settled the govern- 
ment in England he went to Ireland, where he found 
all the counfay distressed with civil war. King James 
with his army, made up of French, Irish, and Eng- 
lish was on one side of a river called the Boyne ; 
and there King William attacked his army, and beat 
it ; James stayed on the field watching the battle 
and giving advice until he saw the battle was lost ; 
and then, taking the advice of his general, Lauzun, 
he fled away with the French guards, and went back 
to France. 

After this King James had no hope of gaining 
anything by flighting in Ireland ; but Ireland itself 
was much worse for a long while, for long years of 
quarrel began there at that time. 

To the Protestants, who wished to have King 
William for their king, was given all the power in 
the country. They called themselves Orangemen 
because William was Prince of Orange ; and made 



228 WILLIAM AND MARY. Chap. LIII. 

many cruel laws against the Roman Catholics. For 
man}' years after this the}' tried ver}- hard to get 
the rest of the Irish to turn Protestants ; and even 
now the Irisli have not done disputing ; but 1 hope 
by the time my little friend, Arthur, is grown up, 
that all the Irish will be friends, and live in peace. 
It is dreadful to think that, though it is nearly two 
hundred 3'ears since the battle of the Bo^^ne, Ireland 
has been unhappy all that time. Sometimes one 
side, sometimes the other, has been cruel and re- 
vengeful ; and unhappily, till the present century, it 
was hardl}' possible to make things better, because 
there were two separate parliaments, one in Ireland, 
the other in England; so what one did the other un- 
did, and the quarrels were made worse. Bat now 
there is one parliament for both countries, the people 
in England begin to understand Ireland, and to love 
the Irish people for many good qualities, and to be 
sorry for the wrong things that have been done there. 
The Irish now enjoy the same freedom as the Eng- 
lish, and we must hope in future they will listen to 
reason and wise advice, and obe}^ the laws as the 
English do. 

While King William was busy in Ireland, Queen 
Mar}- governed in England, and, by her gentle and 
kind behaviour to everybody, gained the love of the 
people; so that they were glad to have her to govern, 
whenever William was obliged to go to Holland, to 
carr}^ on the war which had been begun by several 
countries, as well as England, against that proud 
and ambitious king, Louis the Fourteenth of France. 
Louis was one of those strange men who fanc}' that 
the,y are born better than others, and that people 
have nothing to do but obey them, and that every 
man and every country must be wicked that does 



Chap. LIII. WAR WITH FRANCE. 229 

not do exactl}' as the}' choose in everything, even in 
the way of worshipping God. 

Now King William knew that kings are only to be 
better loved and obeyed than other men when the}- 
obey God themselves, and love mere}', and do right 
and justice to their subjects; and that men and coun- 
tries have a right to be free, and to worship God as 
the}' please : and it was because King William knew 
this that the English chose him to be king when they 
sent awaj' James the Second, because he wished to 
be like Louis the Fourteenth in most things. 

The war the French king had begun went on for 
a good many 3'ears. Twice people made a plot to 
murder King William, but they were found out and 
punished, and the people in England were so angry 
at such wicked plans, that they gave William more 
money to pay soldiers and sailors for the war than 
they had ever given to an}' king liefore. 

Our king used to go every spring, as long as the 
war lasted, to fight the French on the borders of 
France, and he came home in the autumn to see 
what had been done in England while he was away. 

The bravest admiral in these times was Admiral 
Russell, who beat the French ships whenever he 
could find them, and who fought a very famous battle 
against the French Admiral Tourville, about which 
the English sailors sing some fine songs even now. 

King William himself was so brave and skilful in 
war that he baffled the best French generals, and 
kept King Louis's large armies from getting any de- 
cisive advantage for many years, till at last Louis 
was tired of war, and was glad to make peace. So 
he sent his ambassadors to a place called Ryswick, 
in Holland, where King AVilliam had a country-house 
and promised to give back all the places he had 



230 WILLIAM AND MARY. Chap. LIII. 

taken from his neighbours during the war, provided 
he might have peace. 

But in the midst of the war, when everj'thing 
seemed to he going on well, a great misfortune hap- 
pened to both the king find people of P^ngland. 
(lood Queen Mary died of the small-pox when she had 
been queen only six years. She was a very good 
and clever woman. She was not only a good wife 
to the king, but his best friend ; and he trusted her, 
and took her advice in everything. She was a true 
Protestant, and very religious, which made her par- 
ticularly fit to be Queen of England. She was a 
cheerful, good-tempered woman, which made the 
people love her ; and the ladies who lived at her 
court were good wives and mothers, and spent part 
of their time in useful work and reading, like the 
queen, instead of being always at plays, or gaming, 
or dressing, as they used to be in the time of Charles 
and James. 

King William lived seven years after the queen 
died. He was killed by a fall from his horse near 
Hampton Court. 

He was not near so pleasant and cheerful as 
Queen Mary. But he was the very best king for 
England that we could have found at that time. 

He was a very religious man, and he knew his 
duty, and loved to do it, both in England, where the 
people chose him for their king, and in Holland, his 
own country. 

I must write down a few of the things that he did 
for England : perhaps jj^ou will not quite understand 
how right they were till you are older, but it is proper 
that you should remember them. 

A law was made that no man or woman should 
ever be king or queen of England but a Protestant. 



Chap. LIII. EAST INDIA COMPANY. 231 

It was settled that there should be a new parlia- 
ment ver}" often, and that no year should pass with- 
out the meeting of a parliament. 

The old mone}- that had been used in England 
was so worn out, and there was so much bad among 
it, that the king ordered it to be coined, or made 
over again, of a proper size and weight, so that 
people might buy and sell with it conveniently. 

A number of merchants agreed to call themselves 
the East India Compan}-, and to pay a tax to the 
king and pai'liament, if the king would protect 
them, and not allow any nation with which England 
was at war to hurt or destro}' the towns in India 
where they had their trade, or their ships when 
the}' were carrying goods from place to place. 
There was a small company of this kind in Queen 
EUzabeth's reign, but the new one in William's 
time, was of more use to the country as well as to 
the merchants. 

We call the East India trade, not only the trade 
in things from India itself, such as pepper, cotton, 
muslin, diamonds, and other things that come from 
that countr}-, but the trade in tea, and silk, and 
nankeen, and ivorj-, from China ; and in spice of 
many kinds from the Spice Islands ; and cinnamon, 
and gold, and precious stones, and many kinds of 
medicine from Ce3^1on. And all this trade came to 
be very great in King William's reign. 

The reign of King William will always be thought 
of gratefulh' ])y good Englishmen ; because then the 
best things were done for the government, the re- 
ligion, the laws, and the trade of our dear England. 



232 



CHAPTER LIV. 



QUEEN ANNE. — 1702 to 1714. 

How Princess Anne became Queen because she was a Protestant ; 
how the union of Scotland with England was brought about ; 
how the Duke of Marlborough gained the battle of Blenheim; 
how Admiral Rooke took Gibraltar ; how the Queen was 
governed by her ladies. 

THE Princess Anne, who was the second daughter 
of King James the Second, and sister to King 
William's wife Mary, became Queen of England when 
King William died, because she had been brought up 
a Protestant ; while her little brother was taught to 
be a Roman Catholic ; so that by law he could never 
be king of England. He is commonly called the 
Pretender, and he and his son often gave trouble in 
England, as j^ou will read by and hy. 

The first ten years of Queen Anne's reign were 
very glorious ; but the last part of her life was much 
troubled by the quarrels of some of the great men 
who wished to be her favourites, and to direct her 
affairs. 

We will begin her histoiy, however, with the most 
useful thing that was done in her reign ; and that is, 
the union of Scotland with England. 

You know that when Queen Elizabeth died, her 
cousin, James, king of Scotland, became king of 
England, so both countries had one king ; but, as 
they had separate parliaments, and different min- 
isters, and a different form of religion, they were 
always quarrelling, and man}' disputes, and even 
battles, took place, which were as bad as civil wars. 
These disputes were often on account of religion, 



Chai-. LIV. UNION WITH SCOTLAND. 233 

because the kiug iiud his counsellors in England 
wanted to force the Scots to worship God in the 
same way, using the same words with the English.. 
This was very unjust ; so a great many Scotchmen 
joined together and made a covenant, or agreement, 
to preserve their own way of worship, even if they 
should be obliged to fight for it. 

I told you that in William's reign it was wisely 
settled hy law that the Scotch should do as they 
chose about their religion ; and that wise king saw 
that it would be better for both nations if they 
could be so united as to have but one parliament ; 
and if he had lived longer, he meant to make this 
union. After his death Queen Anne and her friends 
were wise enough to desire the same thing ; but it was 
several years before the Scotch and English people 
would agree to it. At last, however, it was settled ; 
and now the Scotch must wonder that they ever 
thought it a bad thing. Since that time they have 
been equal in everything with England. They keep 
their own religion and laws, as well as the English ; 
and when new laws are made, the}' are contrived to 
be fit for both countries ; or, if they will only suit 
one, then the}' are made on purpose for the people 
in that one. As there are plenty of Scotch lords and 
gentlemen, as well as English, in the parliament, 
they are always ready to take care of their own 
country, which is right. 

Although Queen Anne and her ministers were bus}- 
about this union of Scotland with England, they were 
obliged to attend to Avhat the French, under their 
ambitious king, Louis the Fourteenth, were about. 
They had begun to attack the Protestants again, 
in so many ways, before King William died, that 
there was likely to be a war ; and now he was dead, 



234 ANN'E. Chap. LIV. 

Louis thought there was no countr}' in Europe 
strong enough, or with a good soldier enougli, to 
(iglit him, or prevent his conquering as many 
countries as he pleased. But he Avas mistaken. The 
English were as much determined in Queen Anne's 
time as in King William's to prevent Louis from 
foi'cing upon them a Popish king and from oppress- 
ing the Protestants ; and Queen Anne possessed in 
the Great Duke of Marlliorough a far more skilful 
general than William had ever been. Indeed King 
William in the last year of his life intended to give 
him the command of the whole arm}', for he thought 
he should he too ill to command it himself The 
English had a great man}- fine ships too, and Queen 
Anne's Imshaud, Prince George of Denmark, was 
admiral. So England was quite ready for war against 
King Louis, and the people and parliament were 
ready to give the queen all the mone}' she wanted to 
pa}' the soldiers and sailors. 

Besides this, the Dutch were glad to fight on our 
side, as well as some of the princes in Germany ; 
and another firm ally of the English was Prince 
Eugene of Savoy, who was Queen Anne's cousin, 
and was almost as good a general as the Duke of 
Marlborough. 

When Anne had been queen about two j^ears, 
the greatest battle that had ever been heard of was 
fought at a place called Blenheim, near the village 
of Hochstet, in Germany, between the English and 
French. The English had the Dutch and an army of 
Germans on their side ; their generals were Marl- 
liorough and Prince Eugene. The French had a 
good many Germans and Spaniards and Italians 
with them ; their generals were Marshals Marsin 
and Tallard, and the Elector of Bavaria. 



Chap. LIV. 



BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 



235 



The English had to raavch through a little brook 
to attack the French, who stood very stead}' for a 
little while ; but so many were killed, that the rest 
began to run away. Some were drowned in the 




Marlbnrnusrh at Blciilicini. 



great river l)anul)e, which was very near them, and 
a great many were taken prisonei's. witli tlieir 
general, Tallard amongst them. Tiie lighting lasted 



236 ANNE. Chap. LTV. 

six hours ou a, very hot day. A cannon-ball ver}^ 
nearly hit the Duke of Marlborough just as the 
fight began : it struck the earth so close to him that 
the cloud of dust it sent up hid him for some 
minutes from the sight of the people about him. 
The English and Dutch and Germans took all the 
guns, and money, and food of the French arm}'^, 
besides a very great number of prisoners. There 
were more than twelve thousand French killed, and 
a great many wounded ; and about half as man}^ 
English and Dutch and Germans. 

So you see that, whichever side wins in a great 
battle, there is sure to be misery for a great many 
families ou both, who have to grieve for their 
fathers, and sons, and brothers, killed or hurt. 

This was a good battle, however, for it saved 
many countries from the cruel government which 
Louis the Fourteenth set up wherever he conquered. 

Nearly at the same time with the battle of 
Blenheim, a place called Gibraltar was taken by the 
English Admiral Rooke, which is of great use to 
England. 

If you look at the map of Europe, j^ou will see 
that where the Mediterranean Sea joins the great 
Atlantic Ocean Gibraltar is placed. Now all captains 
of ships who want to go into the Mediterranean 
must pass that way. You would be surprised if 
you could see the number of ships of all sizes that 
pass there everj^ day. They fetch figs, and currants, 
and silk, and fine wool, and shawls, and velvets, and 
wine, and oil, and a great many other useful things 
from the Mediterranean ; and whoever Gibraltar 
belongs to can stop the ships going in and out. So 
the English were very glad that Admiral Rooke 
took Gibraltar for Queen Anue. 



Chap.lv. death of ANNE. 237 

At last, after Marlborough had gained several 
other battles, peace was made with the French at a 
place called Utrecht, and Queen Anne died the very 
next 3'ear. 

Queen Anne was kind and good-natured, but not 
ver}- clever. She was rather lazy, and allowed the 
Duchess of Marlborough to govern her for several 
years. Afterwards she quarrelled with her, and 
then some other ladies governed her. 

In the reign of Queen Anne there were a great 
many clever men in England, some poets, and many 
writers of other things. Pope was the great poet, 
and Addisou wrote the most beautiful prose. But 
our little history' would not hold an account of half 
of them. 

Queen Anne's husband and all her children died 
before her, and though she did not love any of her 
Protestant cousins, it was settled by law that the 
sou of her cousin Sophia, who was married to the 
Elector of Hanover should be king; after her. 



CHAPTER LV. 

GEORGE I. — 1714 to 1727. 

How the Elector of Hauover became (Teorge the First of England ; 
how the Pretender tried to make himself King, but was de- 
feated ; how Lady Nithisdale saved her husband's life ; and 
how the Spaniards were beaten at sea. 

QEORGE THE FIRST was Elector of Hanover, 
in Gernuuiy ; and as it was settled in King 
William's reign that nobody but a Pi'otestant sliould 
be king of England, he was sent for and made king 
of England, rather than the son of James 11. , who 
was a Roman Catholic. 



238 riEOnGE T. CHAi. LV. 

But a great many people in Scotland still wished 
to have a king of the old Scotch family of Stuart 
again ; so they encouraged young James Stuart, 
that is the Pretender, whom they called King James, 
to come to Scotland, and promised the}' would collect 
men and money enough to make an army, and buy 
guns and everything fit for soldiers, and march into 
England, and make him king instead of George I. 
From this time all those who took the part of the 
Pretender against George were called Jacobites, from 
Jacobus, the Latin for the Pretender's name, James, 

James's chief friend in Scotland was Lord Mar, 
and he was in hopes that a great many English 
gentlemen would join him, and send money from 
England, and get another army ready there to help 
him. 

But the Pretender and his friends were disap- 
pointed. They lost a great many men in battle at 
the Sheriffmuir, near Dunblane, in Perthshire. 
Their English army was beaten at Preston in 
Lancashire, and the Pretender was obliged to get 
awa}' as fast as he could to France again. 

I wish King George had forgiven both the Jacobite 
officers and men, who thought they were doing right 
in fighting for the son of their old king : but he 
would not ; and besides putting to death a few com- 
mon soldiers and gentlemen, he ordered six lords to 
have their heads cut pff. One of them escaped, how- 
ever, and three were afterwards pardoned. Lord 
Nithisdale, who escaped, was saved by the devotion 
and courage of his wife. She had tried by every 
means to prevail upon the king to pardon him, but 
he would not ; however, she had leave to visit him 
in prison. She went, you may be sure, often, and 
she took a friend wit?i her, whom she called her 



Chap. LV. TIIK PRKrENr)ER. 230 

maid, till she had used the jailers to see two people 
go ill and out. Then she made her friend put on 
double clothes one day, and as soon as she got into 
Lord Nithisdale's room half those elothes were taken 
off, and he was dressed in them, and so they managed 
that he should go out with one of the ladies, who 
pretended that her companion had so bad a tooth- 
ache that she could not speak. Lady Nithisdale had 
a coach waiting at the prison-door, and they went to 
a safe place where her husband was hidden till he 
could get to France. And this was the end of the 
first civil war begun in Scotland for the sake of the 
Pretender. Although his friends often tried to begin 
another, they always failed, while George the First 
was king. 

The King of Spain also tried to assist the Pre- 
tender, but he could only make war with England 
by sea, and his ships were always beaten ; and so he 
made peace. 

George the First died while he was visiting his 
own country of Hanover, after he had been King of 
England thirteen years. He was a brave and pru- 
dent man, but he was too old, when he came to be 
King of England, to learn English, or to behave 
quite like an Englishman ; however, npon the whole, 
he was a nseful kins. 



240 GEORGE II. Chap. LVI. 



CHAPTER LVI. 

GEORGE II. — 1727 to 1760. 

How George the Second went to war with Spain, and with the 
French and Bavarians; how the Frencli were beaten by Lord 
Clive in India, and by General Wolfe in America; how the 
young Pretender landed in Scotland, and proclaimed his 
lather King; how he was beaten, and after many dangers 
escaped to France. 

THE reign of George the Second was disturbed 
both by foreign mid civil war, and by some 
disputes in his family at home. His eldest son, 
Frederick, Prince of Wales, married a German prin- 
cess, and the}' both lived in London, but they were 
discontented with the money the king gave them to 
spend, so they quarrelled with him, and he ordered 
them to go and live at Kew, and would not do any- 
thing kind or good-natured for them. Two children 
were born to them, one of whom was afterwards 
King George the Third, but the Prince of Wales 
died before his father. 

I will now tell you about King George's foreign 
wars, and keep the stor}' of the civil war to the last 
for you, because 3'ou will like it best, I think. 

The Spaniards had built a great man}- towns in 
South America ; and after they had got possession of 
the countr}^ and killed many of the people, they 
took all the gold and silver that was found in the 
earth there for themselves. They were therefore 
obliged to have a great many ships to fetch it, and 
brave soldiers and sailors to guard it as it crossed the 
seas, and so Spain got more gold and silver than any 
other country. 

But other countries wished for some of the useful 



CiL\p. LVr. SPANISH AND FnEN( 'II WARS. 2-41 

things from South America too ; and some English 
merchants wished very much to have several kinds 
of wood which are useful for dj'eing cloth and wool 
and other things of different colours ; but the Span- 
iards attacked them and ill-used them for trjnng to 
cut the wood, and behaved in other respects \evy ill, 
so England went to war with Spain. 

The war was mostly by sea, and in the course of it 
the Spaniards were beaten, first by Admiral Vernon, 
and then hy Admirals Hawke, Rowley, Warren, and 
particularly Anson, though they none of them did 
all they hoped to do. 

Another admiral was very unfortunate. He had 
to fight a great many ships in the Mediterranean 
Sea, and because he did not do all that the people of 
England desired him to do, he was shot when he 
came to England. His name was Byng. I do not 
admire this admiral, but I think he was not justly 
treated. 

Besides the Spaniards, George the Second was at 
war with the French and Bavarians. The Prince of 
Bavaria had been made Emperor, and tried to make 
himself King of Bohemia, in the room of the lawful 
queen, Maria Theresa, and her son, who was an infant. 
The English and Dutch took Maria Theresa's part, 
the French took that of the Prince of Bavaria, and 
there was a very fierce war on that account, in which 
the English gained some battles, and lost some 
others, an account of which would be very tiresome 
to you, I am sure. 

Though upon the whole the French had rather the 
best of the war in Europe, Lord Clive, who had an 
army of English in the East Indies, to take care of 
our merchants and our towns there, beat the F'rench 
generals, and almost drove the French from India 



242 GEORGE II. Chap. LVI. 

altogether. Some time afterwards the French sent 
an army nuder Count Lally to win back their power 
in India ; l)ut Lally was so beaten that the French 
have never had more than one or two small towns in 
that part of the world since. 

If you look at the map of the world in this place, 
my dear little Arthur, you will wonder that two 
countries in Europe, so close together as England 
and France, should think or sending their soldiers 
and sailors so far off as India to fight their battles ; 
but you will wonder still more when you learn that, 
not content with this, they sent other fleets and 
armies to North America, where they fought till 
the English conquered the greatest part of all the 
country that the French ever had in that part of the 
world. But the greatest victory we gained there 
was the battle of Quebec, where our brave and good 
General Wolfe was killed. Some day you will read 
liis life, and then you will wish that all English 
soldiers could be like him. 

We will now think about the civil war in King 
G-eorge the Second's reign. You remember that in 
his father's time the Pretender, whom the Scotch 
call James the Eighth, came from France to Scotland 
and thought he could get the kingdom for himself, 
but he was soon obliged to go back again. 

After that he went and lived in Italy, and married 
a Princess of Poland, and had two sons. The eldest of 
these was a fine brave young man : the youngest be- 
came a clergyman, and the Pope made him a Cardinal ; 
his name was Henr}-. The eldest, Charles Edward, 
who was called the Young Chevalier in Scotland and 
in England the Young Pretender, thought he would 
try once more to get the kingdom of Great Britain 
from the Protestant king ; so, in spite of the good 



Chap. LVI. THE YOUNG PRFTENDER. 243 

advice of his true friends, he would go from Italy 
first to France, and then to Scotland, to make war 
against King George. 

The King of France lent him a ship and a few men 
and officers, and gave him a little mone3\ for this 
purpose ; and the young prince landed in Scotland, 
among the highlands, where the people were still 
fond of his family. In a very short time the high- 
land chiefs, who had a great power over the poor 
jjeople, gathered a great arm}', and marched to 
Edinburgh, which you know is the capital of 
Scotland. 

There he had his father proclaimed King of 
England, Scotland, and Ireland, and gave titles of 
dukes and lords to the gentlemen who came to fight 
for him* and pretended to be the real Prince of 
Wales. And he lived in the old palace of the Scotch 
Icings, called Holyrood House, and there he gave 
balls and concerts to the Scotch ladies, and the}' all 
fancied themselves sure that Charles Edward would 
be their king- instead of George. 

At first he gained two or three victories, the chief 
of which was at Preston Pans, near Edinburgh ; and 
then he marched into England, where but few English 
gentlemen joined him ; and when he got as far as 
Derby lie found that he had better go back to Scot- 
land, for the English would have nothing to do 
with him. On his way, the English army, com- 
manded by the Duke of Cumberland, who was King- 
George's sou, caught and beat part of his army, and 
took man}^ prisoners. 

From this time the French and Scotch officers of 
the Pretender quai-relled constantly, and the high- 
land chiefs became jealous of the other generals, and 
everything began to be unfortunate for that unhappy 



244 



GEORGE II. 



Chap. LVI. 



pi'inco, till at the battle of Culloden his whole ami}' 
was destroyed, mail}' officers were taken prisoners, 




The Pretender at Holyrood House. 



and he was obliged to make his escape and hide 
himself till he could get back to France. 

Sometimes the 3'oung prince was obliged to go 
many days without any food but wild berries in the 
woods, and to sleep in caves, or on the open ground. 



Chap. LVI. THE YOUNG PRETENDER. 245 

vSometimes he laj' in bed, pretending to be a sick 
man, while the Duke of Cumberland's soldiers were 
hunting for him, and he could hear them talking of 
him. Once he escaped from a great danger hy being 
dressed in woman's clothes, and seeming to be the 
maid-servant of a \evy kind and handsome young 
lady, called Flora MacDonald, who saved his life. 
At last he got safe away ; and though he and his 
friends often threatened to make war in England 
again, they never could do any real mischief ; and 
as he and his brother Henry both died without 
children, we have had no more Pretenders. 

I am sorry to say that the Duke of Cumberland 
was very cruel to Prince Charles's friends Avhen 
the war was over. Three Scotch lords, a good many 
gentlemen, and a number of soldiers, were executed 
for having joined the Pretender. 

There is nothing else to tell you about the reign 
of George the Second ; he was a very old man when 
he died at Kensington. He had fought many battles 
in Germany, and was a brave soldier, and not a ])ad 
king ; but having been brought up in Germany, 
like his father, he never eitlier looked or talked like 
an English king. 



246 GEORGE 111. Chap. LVll. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

GEORGE III— 1760 to 1820. 

How George the Third, after making a general peace, went to war 
with the Americans ; how General Washington beat the English 
armies, and procured peace; why the King went to war with 
France; how Napoleon Buonaparte conquered many countries; 
how our Admirals and Generals won many battles; and how 
there were many useful things found out in George the Third's 
reign. 

THE people of England were veiy glad when 
George the Third became king after his grand- 
father. Yon read in the last chapter that his father. 
Frederick, Prince of Wales, died in the life-time of 
George the Second. 

George the Third was born in England, and 
brought up like aii English gentleman. I think he 
was one of the best men that ever was a king ; but 
I do not think that everything he did was wise or 
right. He reigned longer than any king ever 
reigned in England, and unhappily before he died he 
became blind, and he lost his senses. 

He married a German princess named Charlotte, 
and they had a great many sons and daughters, 
and one of their grandchildren is our good Queen 
Victoria. 

You must not expect me to tell you everything 
that happened in this long reign, which lasted 
sixty years, but you shall read of one or two things 
of most consequence, and that you can understand 
l)est. 

When George had been king a little more than two 
years he made peace with all the world, but his reign 
was very far from being a peaceable one. 



Chap. LVII. A^TJ'JRIC'A^' WAR. 247 

There were two wars iu particular of great conse- 
quence ; the first was the American war, and the 
second the French war. I will tell you a little about 
each of them. 

You will remember that in Raleigh's time the 
English built some towns in North America. After- 
wards, during the civil wars in the time of Charles 
the First, many more English went there and took 
their families there to live, and by degrees they had 
taken possession of a ver}^ large country', and had 
got towns and villages and fields. These English 
states in America were called Colonies; but they 
were still governed by the King and Parliament of 
England. The English wanted the Americans to 
pay taxes. But the Americans said that, by Magna 
Charta and our old laws, no Englishman might be 
taxed without their own consent given in parliament. 
Now the American Colonies had no members in the 
British parliament ; so the}' said the Parliament had 
no right to tax them. Then the king called them 
rebels, and threatened to punish them ; and so, after 
many disputes, war broke out between the Americans 
and the King of England's soldiers who were in 
America to guard the towns and collect the taxes. 
Then the Americans said they would have a govern- 
ment of their own. This war was thought little of 
at first, but it soon grew to be one of the greatest 
wars England had ever had. The French and 
Spaniards, who had not forgotten how the English 
had beaten them by sea and land in the last wars, 
joined the Americans ; and although the English 
gained several victories l)y sea over the French and 
Spaniards, yet by land the Americans beat the 
English. 

The chief man in America was (rcneral George 



"248 CiEORGK TIL Chap. LVII. 

Washington, one of the greatest men that ever lived. 
He commanded the American army, and as he and 
his soldiers were fighting in their own land for their 
own freedom, and for their own wives and children, 
it was not wonderful that at last they beat out the 
English soldiers, who did not like to be sent so far 
fi-oin home to fight against men who spoke the same 
language with themselves. 

At last, when the King of Elnglaud found the 
people were tired of this long war, he agreed to 
make peace with America, and since that time the 
United kSxATES of America have had a government 
of their own, and have become a great and powerful 
nation. They have a President instead of a king, 
and they call their parliament a Congress. You 
will understand these things in a few years. 

The French war lasted even longer than the 
American war. This was the cause : for a long time 
the French kings had governed France very badly, 
and the French nobles oppressed the poor people, and 
the clergymen did not do their duty rightl}', but left 
the people ignorant. At last the people could bear 
these bad things no longer, and King Louis the 
Sixteenth, who was a good king, would have made 
them better if he could. But the princes and nobles 
would not let him. Then a number of bad people 
collected in Paris, and they put the king and queen 
and all their family in prison, and they cut off the 
heads of the king and queen and the king's sister, 
and of a great many lords and ladies, and after that 
of every clergyman they could find, and then of 
everybody who tried to save the life of another ; in 
short, I believe the French people did more wicked 
things in about three years than am^ other nation 
had ever done in a hundred. The name of the most 



Chap. LVII. FRENCH WAR. 249 

wicked of all was Robespierre. He was killed at last 
b}^ some of those he meant to kill. 

England and several other countries then went to 
war with the French because they had sent armies 
to attack the neighbouring countries, and had con- 
quered many of them, and that war lasted about 
twenty-four years. 

France would have been mastered, I think, if it had 
not been for a brave-and clever but wicked man, called 
Napoleon Buonaparte, who, from being a simple 
lieutenant, rose to be Emperor of the French. He 
chose clever men for judges and generals. He con- 
quered many countries, and used to threaten to come 
and conquer England. But we had brave sailors, 
and clever captains and admirals, who never let any 
of his ships come near us. Lord Howe won the first 
sea victory in the war ; then we had Lord St. Vincent, 
Admirals Duncan, Hood, Collingwood, Cornwallis, 
Cochrane, Pellew, and many more, who gained 
battles at sea, besides more captains than I can tell 
you, who took parts of fleets or single ships. But 
the man that will be remembered for ever as the 
greatest English sailor was Admiral Lord Nelson. 
He gained three great victories, — at Abonkir in 
Egypt, at Copenhagen, and at Trafalgar near the 
coast of Spain. In that battle he was killed, but he 
knew his own fleet had conquered before he died. 
When he went into battle, the words he gave, to tell 
all the ships when to begin to fight, were, England 

EXPECTS EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY. 

These words must never be forgotten by any 
Eugiishmau. 

There were no more great sea-fights after Tra- 
falgar, but many on land, where we had good generals 
and brave soldiers. The wise and good Geueml 



Chap. LYII. BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 251 

Aberoromby was killed just as he gained a victoiy 
in P^gypt. I His friend, the good and brave General 
Moore, was killed at Corunna in Spain, and many 
other brave officers and men died for the sake of 
England, but many lived to fight and to conquer. 
The greatest general in our time was the Duke of 
Wellington, who put an end to the sad long war by 
his great victor}' over the French, commanded by 
Napoleon himself, at Waterloo. 1 cannot tell you 
in this little book how many other battles he woa, or 
how skilfully he fought them, or how well he knew 
how to choose the officers to help him. But he will 
have always a name as great as Nelson, by whose 
side he was buried in St. Paul's. 

Afterthe battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Buonaparte 
was kept a prisoner in the island of St. Helena till 
he died, and the brother of Louis the Sixteenth 
was King of France, under the title of Louis the 
Eighteenth. 

Our good king, George the Third, died soon after. 
I have told you what kind of a man he was at the 
beginning of this chapter. 

In his reign more things, useful to all men, were 
found out than in hundreds of years before. New 
countries were visited, new plants and new animals 
were brought to England. All the sciences received 
great encouragement. The arts that are needful in 
common life were improved. Steam engines were 
first made useful. The beautiful light given by gas 
was found out, and all sorts of machines to assist men 
in their labour were invented. Those arts called the 
fine arts, I mean such as sculpture, painting, and 
music, were encouraged by George the Third. But 
what is of more consequence, the science of medicine 



252 GEORGE IV. Chap. LTIII. 

and the art of surgery were so ini[)r()ved in liis time, 
that the snfferings of mankind from pain and sick- 
ness are mucli lessened.' 



CHAPTER LVIII. 

GEORGE IV. — 1820 to 1830. 

How it was thi.s King ruled tlie kingdom before hi.s father 
died; liow some bad men planned to kill the King's ministers; 
how the Princess Charlotte died ; how the Turkish fleet 
was destroyed at Navarino ; liow the Roman Catholics were 
admitted into Parliament ; and what useful things were done 
in this reign. 

WHEN George the P^ourth came to the throne, he 
was fift3'-eight _\'ears old, but he had been 
go\erning the kingdom for eight years before he was 
king, during which time he had been called the Prince 
Regent. The reason of this was, that the old king, 
who, as you read in the last chapter, had the mis- 
fortune to go out of his mind, never recovered his 
reason from the time his youngest daughter, the 
Princess Amelia, died, at least not sufHciently to be 
able to govern; so Greorge, Prince of Wales, being 
the heir to the throne, governed for his father all 
that time. 

George the Fourth had no sooner begun his reign 
than a dreadful plot was formed to kill all the cabinet 
ministers. The wicked men — about thirty, I Ijelieve 
— who contrived this plot, used to meet at a house 
in an out-of-the-way place called Cato Street, in the 

1 This is the end of little Arthur's History, as first written by 
Lady Callcott; but for the benefit of thccliildren of the present 
day who read this little History, a few more chajjters are added. 



Chap. LVm. BATTLE OF NAVARINO. 253 

Edgwave Road ; and there they agreed to carry out 
their pkiii ou a certain day, when the ministers were 
all expected to meet together and dine at Lord Hai-- 
rowhy's house. Fortunately tlie plot was betrayed 
l)y one of the men, in time to prevent the murder: 
most of the conspirators were seized, and Thistlewood 
and four other ringleaders were hanged. This plot 
afterwards went by the name of the ^'Cato .Street 
Conspiracy." 

About twenty-fi\'e years before George the Fourth 
came to the throne, he had married his cousin, the 
Princess Caroline of Brunswick. The marriage was 
not a happy one, and the Prince and Princess of 
Wales separated soon after the birth of their first 
and only child, the Princess Charlotte. This led to 
a sad quarrel, which I think it is no use for us to 
remember. 

The Princess Charlotte, who would have succeeded 
her lather on the throne if she had survived him, 
had married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, Ijut 
died the year after her marriage, to the great grief 
of the people. This happened before her father 
became king. 

It was towards the middle of King George's reign 
that a war broke out between the Greeks and Turks. 
A great many English gentlemen, amongst whom 
was the poet, Lord Byron, went to Greece to take 
the part of the Greeks. The struggle lasted several 
years, and was ended at length by a battle fought 
in the harbour of Navarino, where all the Turkish 
ships were sunk by the British fleet. — Navarino is 
at the south-west corner of the Morea in Greece. — 
The commander of the Turkish fleet was named 
Ibrahim Pacha, and the commander of the English 
fleet was Sir Edward Codriugton. After this bat^tle, 



254 GEORGE IV. Chap. LYIII. 

Greece, which had been subject to Turkey, was made 
into an independent kingdom, and tln-ee German 
princes were invited in turn to be king ; Prince 
Leopold of Saxe-Coburg (tlie same who had married 
our Princess Charlotte) declined the lionour, but 
Prince Otho of Bavaria accepted the invitation, and 
became Otho the First, King of Greece. Lord Byron 
died in Greece three years before the war ended. 
Otho was afterwards sent away because he governed 
badly, and the crown was given to Prince George 
of Denmark, brother to our Princess of Wales. 

A law was passed in this reign to allow Roman 
Catholics to sit in Parliament and help to make 
laws for the country. There was much talking and 
considering before this was done, for many people 
thought that if the Roman Catholics helped to make 
laws, they would try to change the religion of the 
country, and to bring back popery, which had in 
former times kept the people in darkness, and caused 
a great deal of misery and cruel persecution, as you 
have read in the former part of this History. Others, 
believing that the Roman Catholics of the present 
day Avere wiser, and that they would continue lo3'al 
to the Sovereigns and faithful to the laws of the 
land, consented to admit them to equal privileges 
with their Protestant fellow-countrymen. So at 
last this law was passed ; and now Roman Catholics 
sit in Parliament, and are made Judges in courts of 
law. 

About the same time the severe laws against 
Protestant Dissenters, which were made under 
Charles the Second, were done away with. 

The king died at Windsor at the age of sixty-eight, 
after a reign of ten 3'ears. 

George the Fourth was a very accomplished man, 



Chap. LIX. PVISLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 2^) 

but be cared so imicb more for pleasing bimself than 
for doing bis duty and tbinking of otbers, tbat be 
was not a favourite witli bis people. 

Many new l)uildings were erected, and various im- 
provements made in tbis reign. Tbe New London 
Bridge and tbe Tbames Tunnel were begun ; tbe 
Menai Suspension Bridge, joining tbe Isle of Anglesey 
to North Wales, was completed ; the Regent's Park 
was laid out ; tbe Zoological Gardens were opened ; 
and Regent Street and other handsome streets were 
built. 

One very great improvement was made b}' Sir 
Robert Peel in causing the streets and roads to be 
guarded night and day by active, well-drilled police- 
men, instead of by watchmen, who used to be on 
duty only at night, and who were very frequently 
feeble old men scarcely able to take care of them- 
selves. 



CHAPTER LIX. 

WILLIAM IV. — 1830 to 1837. 

How the Eeform Bill was passed ; liow Slavery in our colonies was 
abolished ; how there were Revolutions in France and Belgium : 
how the cholera broke out; how railways were established: 
and how the Houses of Parliament were tiurned down. 

AS King George tbe Fourth left no child to succeed 
him, his brothers were the next heirs to the 
throne. The Duke of York, tbe second son of 
George the Third, died three years before George 
the Fourth, and left no child ; so William Henr3', 
Duke of Clarence, tlie third son of Geoi'ge the Third, 
now mounted the tlu'one. William tlio Fourtii, who 
had been brought up as a sailor, was at tbis time 



256 WILLIAM IV. Chap. LTX. 

sixty-four years old ; he was married to an excellent 
German Princess, named Adelaide ofSaxe Meiningen, 
and he had had two daughters, but they both died 
in earh' infanc}'. 

This reign was a short one, but several important 
changes took place in it, one of which was the pass- 
ing of the Bill for a reform in the House of Commons. 
You know how it was settled by King Edward the 
First that all the large towns, which in his reign 
were called burghs, should choose one or two persons 
to go to Parliament and help to make the law. This 
was nearly six hundred years ago ; and since that 
time a great many little hamlets and villages had 
grown into large towns, and a great man}' of the old 
burghs had dwindled away until only a few houses 
were left in them, or even none. The people, who 
were now living in the towns that had grown so 
lai'ge, thought it ver^- hard not to be able to send 
members to Parliament to tell what was wanted in 
their towns ; and they also thought it was useless 
for the little burghs, where only a few people lived, 
to continue sending members. So it was proposed 
that the large towns or boroughs should be allowed 
to send members to the House of Commons, accord- 
ing to the number of people in each town, and that 
the little decayed towns should leave off sending 
members. This new plan was called the "Reform 
Bill." It was talked over a long time in Parliament 
before it was agreed to ; for, although there were 
a great many people who wished for the change, 
there were many others who thought it would be 
dangerous to the welfare of Old England, and both 
sides had to tell all their reasons for what they 
thought. At last it was put to the vote whether 
the Bill should pass or not ; and as the greatest 



Chap. LIX. ■' TIIRE?: DAYS' REVOLUTION." 257 

uumber were for making the change, the Bill became 
law. But I shall have to tell you of another Reform 
of Parliament under (^ueen Victoria. 

Nearl}' the next thing that was clone was to put an 
end to slaver^' in all the colonies belonging to Eng- 
land. A good man, named William "Wilberforce, 
had tried to do this many 3'ears ago, in Greorge the 
Third's reign; but it was not an easy thing to do, 
because all those persons who had large estates in 
the colonies, and who had bought slaves to cultivate 
the land, had paid a great deal of mone}' for their 
slaves ; and the masters were afraid the}' should be 
ruined if the slaves were set free, as there would be 
no one to sow and dig their fields. 

There is no doubt the Parliament and people of 
England acted wisely in wiping away so great a dis- 
grace as slavery is ; and in order to do this with 
justice they paid a ver^' large sum of mone}' — twenty 
millions of pounds. When this was at last done, the 
slaves were made free. 

There was a very sudden revolution in France at 
the beginning of this reign. It only lasted three 
da3-s, and was called the ''Three Days' Revolution." 
Charles the Tenth, the King of France, was expelled, 
and came over to this country ; his cousin Louis 
Philippe was then chosen by the French people 
to be their king, and was called the King of the 
French. 

The example of France was followed in Belgium, 
a country which had been joined to Holland, so as 
to make Ijut one kingdom, over which the Duteli 
king reigned. The Belgians fought hard, and suc- 
i-eeded in completely driving away the Dutch ; after 
which they invited Prince Leopold of >Saxe Coburg 
to be their knig. Although Prince Leopold would 



2r)8 WILLIAM IV. Chap. LIX. 

not be King of Greece, he accepted the kingdom of 
Belgium ; and he afterwards married the Princess 
Louise, daughter of Louis Philippe, the new King of 
the French. He reigned a long time and wisely, 
and was succeeded b^' his son, Leopold the Second. 

I will now tell you of some improvements tliat 
were made in this reign, the principal of which is 
perhaps the forming of railways. The first that 
was opened in England was one between Liverpool 
and Manchester ; and it was a very useful one. You 
know that the people at Manchester w^eave great 
quantities of cotton; so much, indeed, that the town 
is full of factories, where thousands of spinners 
and weavers are constantly at work. After the 
railwa3' was opened, the work went on faster than 
ever, for as soon as the raw cotton arrived in bales 
from America to Liverpool, it was sent off by rail 
to Manchester ; and as fast as it was spun and 
woven at Manchester, a great deal was sent back 
l)y rail to Liverpool, to be shipped otf to America 
and other parts of the world. This kept a great 
many people at work, and as this railway seemed to 
do so much good, railways were very soon carried 
from one end of Britain to the other. 

Amongst the sad events of this reign, may be 
mentioned the appearance of the cholera in England, 
and a great fire which destroyed the Houses of 
Pai'liament at Westminster. 

William the Fourth died, after a reign of scA-en 
years, at the age of seventy-one ; and his widowed 
queen, who then became Queen Dowager, survived 
him about twelve years, when she died, much loved 
and respected by the English people. 



Chap. LX. QUEEN VICTORIA. 259 



CHAPTER LX. 

QUEEN VICTORIA.— 1837. 

How Hauover was separated from England; how the Queen 
married her cousin, Prince Albert; how a fresh Revolution 
broke out in Paris, and how Louis Philipi^e escaped to Eng- 
land ; how the Chartists held meetings ; how we went to war 
with liussia; how the Sepoys mutinied in India; how the 
young men in Great Britain became Volunteers; how Parlia- 
ment was reformed the second time, and means taken to 
educate the people ; how there were a great many discoveries 
and improvements made. 

THE Princess Victoria, niece of William the Fourth, 
succeeded him on the throne. She was the 
daughter of Edward Duke of Kent, the next brother- 
of the late king. Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, 
was sister to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Col>urg, King 
of the Belgians. 

A princess is of age to reign at eighteen ; the 
Princes.s Victoria had happily attained that age a 
few weeks before she was called to be Queen of 
England. 

Since the reign of Cleorge the First, who was 
Elector of Hanover, the kings of England had also 
ruled over that kingdom ; Init in Hanover there is 
a law which prevents females fi'oni reigning there ; 
so that, when ^Yilliam the Fourth died, Hanover 
was separated from England ; and at the same time 
that the Princess Victoria ascended the English 
throne. Ernest Duke of Cumberland, the fifth son of 
(George the Third (and the Queen's eldest surviving 
uncle), became King of Hanover. But Hanover has 
since been made part of the German Empire. 

The reign of Victoria, the happiest and best that 



■2r.O QUEEN VICTORIA. Chap. LX. 

ever was for England, has yet been marked hy a 
great deal of fighting in all parts of the world. 

First, there were riots in Canada, and it was three 
years before they were entirely put down ; then a 
number of people who called themselves Chai'tists 
created some uneasiness at home, but their meetings 
were soon stopped, and their ringleaders were trans- 
ported ; next, a war broke out in China and another 
in India, and it was eight years before all these 
disturbances were settled. 

Meanwhile the people were glad to turn their 
minds from these troubles to an event that gave 
ever}' one pleasure, namely, the marriage of the 
Queen with her cousin. Prince Albert of Saxe- 
Coburg-Gotha, nephew of Leopold, the wise King 
of the Belgians. There were great rejoicings on 
this occasion, aud with reason, for it proved one of 
the happiest events, not only for the Queen, but for 
her people. 

The French had for some time been growing more 
and more dissatisfied with the government of Louis 
Philippe, whom they had chosen, in 1830, to be 
their king ; and every now and then they had 
shown their discontent hy insurrections, which led 
to fighting in the streets of Paris. At length their 
displeasure vented itself in a complete revolution, 
and Louis Philippe, in terror for his life, made his 
escape and came for refuge to England. 

The Chartists, misled by some designing persons 
who fancied they might make a similar revolution 
in Old England, thought this would be a good time 
to try and frighten the Queen and Government of 
England into granting their foolish and dangerous 
wishes ; so they collected a ver}- large multitude, 
intending to go in a body to the House of Commons 



Chap. LX. 



THE CTIARTIiSTS. 



2fil 



and (lemancl what they wanted. But the people of 
P^ngland loved the Queen too well, and were too 
well satisfied with the government of their country. 




The Marriage of Queen Victoria. 

to let the Chartists do any mischief; so, at the 
command of the Duke of "Wellington, soldiers were 
placed in various parts of London, to he in readiness 
if wanted ; and the principal citizens undertook to 
guard the City, while they spared all the policemen 
to go and keep the l)ridges which cross the Thames. 



•2fi2 QVEEN VICTORIA. Chap. LX. 

The Chartists, when they saw that they could not 
gain their ends, and that they would only bring 
harm to themselves if they resorted to violence, 
agreed that the best thing they could do, was to 
disperse and go quietly home. Thus, whereas there 
had been fighting between the people and the 
soldiers in almost all the other great cities of Europe, 
peace was maintained in London on that memorable 
and peaceful day, the Tenth of April, 1848, without 
a single soldier being seen. 

A short while after, the great Duke of Wellington, 
who had served his country so long and so well, 
died. By the victories he had won he had procured 
peace for Europe which lasted more than fort}' years. 
The English had cause to lament his loss, not many 
years after, when they engaged in a terrible war 
with Russia. The Russians, whose country, you 
know, is the largest in Europe, tried to get posses- 
sion of Turkey, and of the mouths of the River 
Danube, and the rich corn countries on its banks. 
Several of the other European countries thought it 
was not fair for Russia to tyrannize over Turkey, 
and they also thought it would not be safe for the 
rest of Europe, that the Emperor of Russia should 
rule from the Baltic to the Black Sea and Mediter- 
ranean, as he certainly Avould do if he succeeded in 
overpowering the Turks. So the English and French, 
and afterwards the Sardinians, joined in helping the 
Turks to drive back the Russians into their own 
country. This war lasted two 3'ears, and half a 
million of lives were lost in it, far the greater number 
on the side of Russia. The allied armies, as those 
who joined the Turks were called, fought hard, and 
suffered a great deal from cold, illness, and fatigue, 
but they succeeded at last in freeing the Turks from 



Chap. LX. INDIAN MUTINY. 263 

their Russian enemies. The fighting took i)lace 
chiefly in the Ci'imea, where the Russians had a 
very strong fortress and a large harbour for their 
ships of war, at a place called Sevastopol. The 
Russians strove Avith all their might to defend the 
fortress ; but, after it had been besieged for twelve 
months, it was taken at last, with great difficulty, 
by the Allies, and was destroyed. 

This war was scarcely over when a dreadful 
mutiny broke out in India amongst the Sepoys. 
The Sepoys are Indians whom the English have 
trained to be soldiers. They make very good 
soldiers, and are sometimes very faithful ; but their 
religion makes them see some things in a very dif- 
ferent light from that in which Christians look at 
the same things ; and one of the supposed grievances 
of the Sepoys was that their cartridges were greased 
with the fat of cows — animals which are sacred 
amongst the Indians. The Sepoys turned upon the 
English, wlio were few in number compared with 
themselves, and killed numbers of them, with their 
wives and children, without mere}'. The massacre 
was dreadful, but the English were not daunted, 
and they everywhere showed the greatest courage 
and presence of mind in the midst of tliese scenes of 
horror, until at length the officers and soldiers, sent 
from England to relieve and defend them, entirely 
put down the rebellion. Tlie chieftain of the muti- 
neers was one Nana Sahib, who disappeared, and is 
supposed to have been slain ; and amongst the brave 
men who subdued the mutiny were General Ilavelock, 
Sir Hemy Lawrence, and Sir Colin Campbell, after- 
wards Lord Cl^'de. 

The year after this mutiny the rule of the East 
India Company was entirely done away with, and 



2fi4 QUEEN VICrORTA. Chai-. LX. 

an Act of Parliament declared tliat all those parts of 
India which had been conquered by the English 
should in future be governed by the Queen. 

I am afraid I should never finish if I tried to tell 
3'ou all that was done in this reign ; but I cannot 
leave off without speaking of one thing which shows 
how much the British people love their Queen and 
their country, and how determined the}- are to defend 
them. It was thought at one time that the Emperor 
Napoleon, who ruled in France after Louis Philippe, 
had some intention of invading England. As soon 
as ever this was thought possible, nearly all the 
young gentlemen, and men of every class through- 
out the country, came forward of their own accord 
to be trained as soldiers, and drilled, and they con- 
tinued steadily practising until they made themselves 
good soldiers. The invasion did not take place, but 
such resolution and unity of feeling on the part of 
Great Britain must make all foreigners see what 
reception they would meet with, if they came to our 
land as enemies. 

I might tell you long stories of the wonderful 
wars and changes that have happened all over the 
world since this time ; but they hardlj- belong to the 
History of England. And the x'eason for this is one 
to make us very thankful. You have seen all through 
this little book how British freedom has been always 
growing ; so that the people are governed according 
to their own wishes, and all needful changes can be 
made without violence. And we have been able to 
have nothing to do with the great wars abroad, except 
to send help to the wounded soldiers and the starv- 
ing people. 

In our good Queen's long reign many new laws 
have been made ; but I need only tell you now of 



Chap. LX. SIR JOIIX FRAXKTAX. 265 

one or two. There Avas another Reform of the 
House of Commons, giving a vote to nearly all 
people who live in houses and lodgings and pa}' 
their share of the expenses of government. And, as 
people cannot be good citizens, or good at all, with- 
out being well taught, Parliament has provided for 
the education of all the children in the country. 

The discoveries and improvements of this reign 
have been greater and more numerous than have ever 
been made in the same space of time since the world 
began ; so I can only tell 3'ou some of the chief of 
them. 

For two liundred years and more, English sailors 
have been striving to find a shorter way of going to 
India and China, than by going either round the 
Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. They hoped to 
be able to do so, by sailing through the seas at the 
North Pole, along the north coast of America. But 
these seas are filled with ice, which is quite fast in 
winter, and breaks up only a little in summer ; so 
that the brave men, who sought a passage through 
them, nearly always got blocked up in the ice, and 
had to spend the winter in the dark. One of the 
bravest of those who tried to find this passage was 
Sir John Franklin, who, unhappily, never returned ; 
and after many years it was found b}'^ those who 
went to seek him, that he and all his companions had 
died of cold and starvation. Before his death, how- 
ever, he had pushed through the ice far enough to 
prove that the ocean extends all along the north 
coast of America, from BaflBn's Bay to Behring 
Straits ; though he could not take a ship through. 
So the North- West Passage was at last discovered, 
and it shows liow daring English sailors are, and 
what diflficulties they will overcome. 



:^<iC> qi'KEN VWTORIA. Chap. LX. 

Dr. LivingstoiU! made gretit discoveries in Africa, 
where lie found rivers and great lakes, whose names 
were before unknown ; and other travellers have 
traced nearly to its source the celebrated river of 
Egypt, the Nile. 

In the part of the globe opposite to us, the great 
Australian colonies have grown up — greater than 
those we lost in America under George the Third. 
And an immense quantity of gold has been discovered 
there. But you must know that gold is only useful 
to help people in exchanging one useful thing for 
another ; and times of abundant gold have always 
been times of great prosperity for the world. And 
now meat is brought all the way from Australia for 
us to eat. And we have colonies in the two great 
islands of New Zealand, which are almost the Anti- 
podes to us. This word means that the people there 
stand right on the other side of the round world, 
with their feet pointing to our feet. In North 
America, too, the colonies that we won from the 
French under George the Second have been formed 
into a great united state, called the Dominion of 
Canada. It would take me much too long to tell 
you how rich Great Britain has grown during this 
reign by its trade with all the world. 

The postage of letters was made so cheap, that all 
people can write to their friends as often as they 
like. Railroads were made everywhere, even, as you 
know, nnder the streets of London. Electric tele- 
graphs were invented, and made to carry messages 
to almost every part of the world, not only overland, 
but even across the bed of the seas. Most ships are 
now made of iron instead of wood, and by the help 
of steam are able to cross the seas to America and to 
go round the world ; and railwa3's have been made 
in almost every countr}^ upon the earth. 



Chap. LX. IMJ'EOVEMKXTS. "267 

The Thames Tunnel was linished unci opened ; the 
Royal Exchange, which had been burnt down, was 
re-built, and opened by the Queen ; the Great 
Exhibition, a vast house of glass half a mile long, 
was built at the suggestion of the Queen's husband, 
the Prince Consort, and all the people of the world 
were invited to bring all the best things their coun- 
tries could produce, and display them in it. The 
new Houses of Parliament, one of the grandest 
buildings in the world, have arisen ; many new 
streets of splendid houses for the rich, and many 
new lodging-houses for working people have been 
made ; and instead of burying dead people in church- 
yards in the middle of towns, cemeteries (that is, 
'• sleeping places ") have been formed outside the 
towns for all people to be buried in. 

But what I think the most useful of all are the 
improA'emeuts made m2)rinting books and nev/spapers. 
Great machines have been invented to print several 
thousand of sheets of paper in an hour. New 
materials have been used for making paper. Besides 
this, the taxes have been taken off paper and news- 
l)apers ; so that I can now buy a newspaper for one 
penn}', for which I used to pa}- seven-pence half-penny 
when I vras little Arthur's age. I might tell you a 
great deal more about the taxes that have been taken 
off all manner of necessary and useful things, and how 
we have now bread and tea and coffee and sugar and 
salt and spice and wine, and bricks and timber and 
glass, and gloves and boots and silks and ribands, 
and even toys, and many other things, much cheaper 
because they are not taxed. And yet the Govern- 
ment has plenty of money, because tlie people can 
better afford to pay other taxes. 

This work of lightening the burdens of the people 



268 QUEEN VICTORIA. Chap. LX. 

was begun after the battle of Waterloo, when the 
great Duke of AVellingtou was Prime Minister to 
George the Fourth. Indeed, more taxes were taken 
off in the ten years before the Reform Bill than in 
the twenty years after it. 

I must now tell you a few sad things which have 
happened in this reign. 

There was a terrible famine in Ireland, caused b}- 
a disease, before unknown, which destroyed the 
potato crop. The potato is the chief food of the poor 
people in Ireland, and, when the potato rotted in the 
ground, there was nothing for them to live upon. 
The rich people of England did all they could to help 
the poor creatures, and a great deal of money was 
sent from this country to buy food and clothes for 
them ; but, notwithstanding all that was done, 
thousands and thousands died of disease and starva- 
tion. This was a dreadful visitation ; but it has 
providentially led to some good ; for more care has 
been taken since then to cultivate land in Ireland, 
and everything done to try and keep off such a mis- 
fortune in future. 

And there have been rebellions in Ireland, because 
many of the people want to have a separate govern- 
ment of their own. But this would do them more 
harm than good, for they have a full share in making 
laws for the United Kingdom ; and the Irish have 
equal liberty' with the English and the Scotch. All 
three countries help one another ; and there have 
been natives of all three among the great and good 
men who have raised the united British Isles to 
power and prosperity. So it is foolish and wicked 
to want to divide them again. 

Another sad thing was the return of the cholera, 
which carried off great numbers of people ; but this 



Chap. LX. THE CHOLERA. 2G9 

inisfortuue has also led to some good, for, a,l though 
it is not kuowu what brings the cholera, it has 
always been found that fewer people die of it where 
towns are kept clean, and houses are airy, and where 
people live on good food and wholesome water. So 
more care has since been taken of these things, and 
it may be that not only cholera, but fevers and other 
illnesses, may have been kept off by the care that is 
taken. But a great deal more has to be done to keep 
the air pure and provide plenty of pure water for 
our towns. 

There was very great distress for some time in 
Lancashire, where so man}' thousands of people live 
1\V weaving cotton. The reason of this was, that 
a civil war broke out in America, where the cotton 
was grown. As long as there was fighting in 
America, no cotton came from that country to this ; 
and there was no work for the weavers to do, so 
that the}' were in the greatest distress. They bore 
their troubles patiently and well, and nearly every 
one in the countr}', and even some of the Americans 
themselves, sent money and clothes for the suffering 
workpeople, and did everything possible to help 
them until they could go to work again. And since 
then, a rich American merchant, Mr. Peabody, has 
given hundreds of thousands of pounds to build 
proper houses for workmen and poor people in 
London. 

But of all the sad events of this reign, the one 
which has been longest and most deeply felt is the 
death of the Prince Consort, the good and beloved 
husband of the Queen. Until he died, the i)eople 
themselves did not know how needful he was to her 
in relieving her of the cares of governing, how much 
good he had otherwise done them, and how truly 



270 qUEKN VICTORIA. Chap. LX. 

he loved them. Man}- of the improvements made 
in this reign were owing to him : he planned better 
houses for the poor to live in ; he encouraged farmers 
to cultivate their land more carefully and to rear 
good cattle ; he patronised and encouraged Arts 
and Sciences ; in short, I cannot tell you how wise 
and prudent he was, and how many good things 
he did, uor how much and how sincerely he is 
regretted. 

Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort had nine 
children ; the eldest of whom, the Princess Ro3'al, 
is married to the Crown Prince of Prussia ; the 
second, the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, 
is married to the Princess Alexandra of Denmark ; 
and the third, the Princess Alice, who was married 
to Prince Louis of Hesse, died in 1878 ; the Princess 
Helena is married to Prince Christian ; the Princess 
Louise, to the Marquis of Lome, son of the Duke of 
Argyle ; the Duke of Edinburgh is married to the 
only daughter of the Emperor of Russia, and the 
Duke of Connaught to the daughter of Prince Charles 
of Prussia; Prince Leopold, and Princess Beatrice. 

And now, dear Arthur, before I end the stor}' of 
what has happened thus far in our beloved Queen's 
reign, I have to add something that seemed likely to 
be one of its saddest events, but I trust may prove, 
by God's blessing, one of the happiest. Just ten 
years after the death of the good Prince Consort, 
the Prince of "Wales was seized with the same sort 
of fever, at the age of thirty. He was so ill that 
prayer was made for him in all the churches ; but 
three days afterwards he began to get lietter. The 
love shown by the Queen and all the Royal famil}' 
in watching round his bed made them dearer than 
ever to the nation ; and the deep anxietv of all the 



Chap. LX. LOYALTY AXU LIHERTY. 271 

people for tlieir Prince gave such a proof of their 
loj-alty as I scarcely remember. I want my dear 
Arthur to learn well the great lesson of loyalty as 
well as liberty. It is our happiness always to enjoy 
a settled government, not subject to change, under 
a royal family, kept quietly and regularly at the 
head of the state ; so that we may show love and 
honour to our country by loving and honouring 
them; and especially when we have a Queen and 
ro^yal family whose virtues deserve all our \o\e and 
loyalty. 

But it is time to finish our little History, which I 
hope you will rememlier ; and I also hope that it will 
help you to understand larger and better histories 
b^'-and-b}'. 



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